Battle of the golden firebird
by J. A. Brightstar
Summary: Story about a girl with shapeshifting powers she doesn't know about, and two powerful faerie factions fighting over her. New Sections have been added!
1. Chapter 1

46

Ashleigh

The buzzer rang for the end of period, and I sighed with relief. However, a strange mixture of frustration and dread coiled in my stomach. Lunch. To be honest, I didn't really want to go to the cafeteria. I had enough eyes staring at me in my classes; going to the caf meant just that much more.

As I stood up from my desk, a petite girl with white blonde hair and the prettiest aqua eyes I'd ever seen bounced up to me. She was wearing a jean miniskirt and a white spaghetti-strap shirt. She smiled at me, and I noted that her teeth were extraordinarily white.

"Hey, you're Ashleigh Brightstar, right?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. I fought the urge the roll my eyes. As if _everyone_ didn't know who I was. But at least she was attempting to make conversation, instead of staring at me wordlessly.

"Yeah, that's me," I replied. I smiled back at her. "I'm afraid I don't know your name though. Sorry. New school and everything." The girl nodded solemnly.

Looking down, I saw that her feet were tapping to an invisible beat. I also saw that she had a tattoo of a small, ruby-scaled dragon curling around her ankle. Did this girl ever stop moving?

"Yeah, I _totally_ understand. I felt exactly the same when I transferred here two years ago." She blinked those wide eyes at me in sympathy, and held out her hand. "I'm Bunny," she said seriously.

Oh, you have got to be kidding me. "Bunny?" I repeated with difficulty, struggling to hold back laughter. What kind of parents would name their kid _Bunny_? That would most definitely count as torture.

"Yeah. Bunny." Those gorgeous eyes of hers hardened, and her mouth twisted slightly. Whoa. Note to self: Do not make fun of Bunny's name.

She had regained her composure and was again smiling. "So, do you wanna come sit with me and my friends at lunch? That way, no one will bother you. I know it must be hard for you, what with everyone staring and whispering behind their hands."

I very nearly agreed, but something stopped me. I felt pretty sure that sitting with Bunny and her friends would lock me in with them. I would always be a part of that group if I chose to sit with them today. And I wasn't quite sure that I wanted to identify myself just yet.

But how to say this to her? From her reaction when I nearly laughed at her name, Bunny was an extremely temperamental person, and I was absolutely positive that I didn't want to get on her bad side.

"Well, I'd like to," I hedged, scrambling to find a response. I could see the flames burning in the depths of her eyes, and I knew that if I didn't figure out an excuse soon, I was going to be in big trouble. Suddenly, I felt a warm arm around me.

"She'd like to, but she's sitting with me," drawled a warm voice, with the slightest of British accents. I turned around to see a girl with golden blonde hair and bright green eyes staring intently at Bunny.

"Yeah," I echoed weakly. "I'm sitting with…" I looked at the girl again, realizing that I had forgotten her name. Bunny was glaring daggers at the girl, and the girl was glaring right back.

"Alana Winthorpe," the girl supplied. She smiled smugly at Bunny, who had red flags in her cheeks. I realized belatedly that saying that I was going to be sitting with this Alana person hadn't exactly kept me in Bunny's good graces.

I was trying to be diplomatic about this, and keep everyone happy. "How about I sit with you like…tomorrow?" I offered, crossing my toes for luck. I hoped to high heaven that this would placate Bunny.

Bunny sighed, and bit her lip. "Yeah, tomorrow's good," she replied. She shot a death glare at Alana, and waved to me. "Bye Lana," she said sweetly. "Bye Ashleigh. See ya tomorrow." She practically skipped out the door. I was tired just from watching her!

Alana chuckled under her breath. "Bingo," she murmured. I turned around to look at her. _Bingo_? Like getting to eat lunch with me was some kind of conquest? I had understood from the first that Bunny and Alana were enemies, maybe even archenemies. But couldn't Alana at least have a little tact?

However, I couldn't feel too mad at her, because she'd just rescued me. "Thanks," I stated. Alana shrugged, examining her nails.

While she wasn't looking at me, I could stare at her without being embarrassed. Bunny was pretty, very pretty, but Alana was easily the most beautiful, elegant girl I'd ever seen. Her wavy hair was coiled around her head in a pretty, elegant coronet style, totally unsuited for school, but just right for her. Her skin was flawless, not a single zit anywhere that I could see. Her lips were ruby red, which gave warmth to her milk-white skin.

Her eyes were a brilliant emerald green, and shaded by the longest lashes I'd ever seen. They literally brushed her cheekbones when she blinked.

She was slender, but not too slender. She had on a sunset colored silk shift, and a white short-sleeved jacket. Her nails were painted a pretty gold-orange-pink nail polish. Gold wedge heels completed the outfit.

Now I had one question. How did she wear those heels, and still sneak up on me silently? If it were me, I'd be tripping and clunking all over the place. One of the many reasons I never wore heels.

Finally, Alana looked up from the inspection of her nails. "So, are we going to lunch or not?" I blinked at her, feeling like an idiot. I had just noticed something strange about her skin, but I couldn't remember what it was.

"Um…you can go if you want," I replied, feeling confused. What was it that I had noticed about her skin?

Alana, finally put down her hand, and crossed her arms, glaring at me. "I said you were going to eat lunch with me. Don't turn me into a liar."

I frowned. "There was a reason I didn't want to sit with Bunny," I pointed out peevishly. Who was she to tell me what to do?

She snorted. "Yeah, because she's an evil, manipulative cow. Wait, I'm sorry. That wasn't fair to cows."

I blinked again, in astonishment. Wow. I'd had no idea that the enmity was rooted that deeply. But I still had to correct her.

"Er…no," I contradicted. "Because I don't want to identify myself with one group before I get to know everybody. It's too early for me to be classified yet." Alana rolled her eyes at my statement.

" A noble sentiment, I'm sure. Here's my advice. Stay away from Bunny and her friends and sycophants, and hang out with the people who don't like her. Which includes my crew and I. So let's go."

I stomped my foot. "No! I don't want to be stuck in your group after one day of school!" I snapped. Alana just shrugged, and pulled me along behind her.

I finally yanked my hand out of hers, once we got out of the classroom and into the hallway. I didn't want to seem like a little kid who doesn't want to go to school. And to be honest, I didn't really mind eating lunch with Alana. No one would be able to resist sitting with a queen.

As we entered the cafeteria, and the hundreds of pairs of eyes in the school all swiveled toward me, I finally remembered what I had noticed about Alana's skin.

It glowed.

Alana

I'd been around my friends—Shi Yun, Zelda, Helen, Giana, and Eva—for so long, that they seemed normal to me. In fact, in my mind, they were the most beautiful girls in the world. But Ashleigh Brightstar seemed a bit astonished when she first saw them.

Not that she wasn't something to look at herself. She totally was. A number of hearts were going to be broken at this school before she graduated.

Ashleigh Brightstar had auburn curls cascading past her shoulders, and lively honey brown eyes. She had pale skin, and exactly three golden freckles resided on her nose.

She had a nice figure, one you could tell came from genes, not a diet. She wore a caramel colored, short-sleeved, button down, collared shirt, and a gold necklace set with diamonds and a tiger's eye.

Her skirt was brown and gold plaid, and she wore gold ballet flats. On her wrist, I saw a—what else—gold bracelet with exquisite citrines hanging from it.

Ashleigh's hands were perfectly French manicured, and I saw a piece of jewelry that didn't go with the rest of her outfit. It was a silver ring on her right ring finger, set with a beautiful, tiny opal.

From what I could see, Ashleigh was a very neat, orderly person, and I was a bit worried about how she would react to my friends.

To my surprise, after her initial shock, Ashleigh was extremely comfortable with my friends. To my even greater amazement, the one she seemed to like the most was Zelda.

Zelda was average height, with bubblegum pink hair that had lime green streaks, cut into a pixie cut. Her eyes were electric blue, which created a stark contrast against her peach skin. She wore a black miniskirt, fishnet stockings, and a green shirt with a silver skull on it. The green of the shirt matched the green in her hair. Most days, she wore a slight variation of this outfit.

Zelda tended to laugh often and loudly. She wasn't traditionally pretty, but something in her fun and silly character made her seem cute.

Giana fancied herself an Egyptian queen. She did look like one, but sometimes her airs were annoying. She had glossy, jet black hair, which fell down to her shoulders. It hung straight against her face, except for the last few inches, which were braided.

Her skin was golden brown, and her eyes were very dark brown, almost black. She wore a gold headdress like Cleopatra, and wore a thin white dress with a golden silk sash, and leather sandals. Gold bangles decorated her arms from her wrists to her elbows.

Helen was unconventional, but very pretty. She looked almost exactly like Rogue from the _X-men_ movie. She even had a Southern accent, although I had long suspected that it was a carefully imitated one. However, she'd had it for so long, I thought that she had maybe forgotten that she was from Nebraska. But then again, her mother was from South Carolina, so the accent might just be real. One could never be sure about such things.

Helen enjoyed the fact that people often mistook her for the actress Anna Paquin in _X-men_. In fact, she often encouraged it. She always wore gloves, and she wore a dog tag necklace. She had even persuaded her mom to allow her to put a few white streaks in her brown hair. She got a laugh out of making people flinch when she reached for them.

Shi Yun was Japanese-American. I hated classifying people like that—did it matter? —but that was the only explanation for her stunning almond shaped brown eyes, glossy, raven black hair, and golden skin. Shi Yun was slim, but she still had curves. Even today, when it was about 97 degrees, she always looked cool as a cucumber. She rarely spoke, unlike Helen, Giana, and Zelda, but when she did, she was hilarious. She had a dry sense of humor that very nearly matched my own.

Even though people often thought, when they first met my friends, that Zelda was the strangest, they often got used to her within a few minutes. It was Eva that people never got used to.

Eva had wavy maroon hair with golden streaks, and pale skin. Her eyes were cinnamon-colored, which was strange in itself, but strangest of all were her pupils. They were pure gold, and seemed to emit light every few seconds.

Eva was easily the most beautiful of our group. She always wore her hair down, and when she was shy, she hid behind a cranberry-colored curtain. She was tall and slender, and had a silvery tinkle of a laugh that sounded like tiny bells.

Eva was the only one of our group who was a straight-A student. The rest of us did pretty well, but Eva was a model student. Teachers loved her, and even the students couldn't bring themselves to hate her, because she didn't brag about her good grades, and she was willing to help anyone who asked.

Ashleigh loved my friends, and Eva, Zelda, Giana, and Helen seemed to share the feeling. Shi Yun was more reserved, waiting to see how Ashleigh turned out. We all knew exactly what depended on Ashleigh, and Shi Yun was cautious about giving out her affections until she was absolutely sure of a person.

Even though part of me felt that Shi Yun was right, a larger part of me was absolutely positive that Ashleigh was everything that we had hoped for. We had to wait and see.

Bunny

I was absolutely livid that Alana had gotten to Ashleigh Brightstar before I did. She had probably told Ashleigh all sorts of nasty things about me. I could see her now, sitting with Alana and her band of freaks.

Alicia Silverstone slid back a chair and dropped down next to me. "Why the frown, Bunny?" she asked, helping herself to one of my potato chips. I pushed the bag over to her, and bit off exactly one-fourth of a baby carrot. I pointed towards Alana, Ashleigh, and the rest of them.

Alicia looked over at them and grimaced for a second. "How'd that happen? I thought you were going to invite her over to eat with us." I gritted my teeth as I patiently explained how Ashleigh had postponed lunch until tomorrow.

Alicia looked aghast. "She _refused_? Why? You don't think Alana was mind-suggesting to her, do you?" She nabbed another one of my potato chips and chewed noisily.

I bit off another fourth of my carrot and chewed as I thought. Finally, I swallowed and replied, "No. Ashleigh had already decided to sit on her own by the time Alana got to her."

I cast another glance at Alana's table. Ashleigh and Zelda were laughing hysterically. Suddenly, Alana looked over at me and smirked. I glared at her, but she simply turned away and started talking to Helen.

Suddenly, Alicia started humming. I smiled maliciously and bit off another fourth of carrot. Keeping my eyes on Alana, I greeted Blair as she sat down on my left side. "Hey," I murmured. Blair replied in kind, and fixed her eyes on Alana as well.

It didn't take long for Alana to start wincing and rubbing at her temples. She glared at Alicia, who smiled sweetly and continued humming. Alana screwed her face up in pain.

Abruptly, I turned to Alicia. "Pull back," I ordered. Alicia looked at me in disbelief. She opened her mouth to protest, but before she could utter a sound, her hands went to her head.

I looked over at Alana's table to see Eva narrowing her falcon eyes in our direction. I swiftly brought my eyes back to Alicia to see her eyes rolling back into her head. She was making strange whimpering noises in the back of her throat.

There was only one way to stop this from happening, and it was so humiliating I didn't even want to consider it. But another look at Alicia told me that it wouldn't be long before she started screaming.

Glaring at Alana, I bowed my head in surrender. Alana smirked, and placed a hand on Eva's arm. Eva blinked, and Alicia stopped whimpering. Her eyes opened and she slowly put her shaking hands onto the table. She did not look at me as she said, "I'm sorry, Bunny."

I smiled at her benevolently. "I don't blame you. You're only a dove. A lethal dove, it's true, but Eva's a full-blooded falcon. But don't worry. Once we get Ashleigh Brightstar on our side, you can torture Alana and her friends as much as you want."

Alicia grinned evilly, and I could tell that she was looking forward to that day even more than I was.

Two hands covered my eyes. "Guess who!" a sweet voice exclaimed. I bit my lip to stifle a laugh.

"Hey, Jubilee," I remarked. Jubilee removed her hands from my face and skipped over to the chair across from me, her lower lip poking out. She was obviously put out that I had ruined her little game so quickly.

Jubilee had long, dark blue hair, pale skin, bright sea green eyes, and a slim, petite figure. People thought I was bouncy, but that was always before they met Jubilee.

"Where's Monique?" I asked, inquiring about her identical twin sister. Jubilee shrugged, snapping open her bottle of apple juice. I sighed with exasperation.

Alicia lifted a single ebony eyebrow at Jubilee, who grimaced, and answered my question. "She's on her way. She had to run to the car to get her English homework." Jubilee stuck her tongue out at Alicia, and took a demure sip from her juice.

Alicia tossed back her raven hair, and reached behind me to poke Blair on the shoulder.

Blair jumped, and she accidentally knocked over her rice pudding. The nasty stuff that Blair enjoyed so much oozed over the table.

Jubilee stuck her finger in the mess and sucked on it. "You know, Bunny, I don't see why you don't like rice pudding. It tastes pretty good to me."

Alicia snickered as Blair swore and ripped napkin after napkin out of the dispenser. Blair silenced her with a glance from her black eyes. After Blair cleaned up the mess, she yanked Alicia up from her chair, and stood facing her, her arms crossed over her chest.

Alicia smiled smugly—until Blair's hand wrapped around her throat. "Listen to me, little birdie," Blair hissed. "I've got a Trigonometry exam to study for, and I don't want any distractions. You mess with me one more time, and we'll see how well the birdie flies when her feathers are ripped out."

Alicia rolled her bright brown eyes, but I read the fear in her face, and I could see her struggling to contain her power. Whenever she felt very strong emotions, her power went haywire.

Deciding it was time for me to step in, I made my voice go cold as I said, "Blair, get your hands off of her." Blair complied without arguing. However, I decided that I had to make it clear exactly who was in charge around here.

I was just about to go off on her when I noticed that Ashleigh Brightstar was looking over at our table curiously. I smiled brightly at her, and she smiled right back.

Zelda, who had been talking to her, glanced up at me and rolled her eyes. I made a fish face at her, sucking in my cheeks. She flushed bright red, and ducked her head.

Alicia sat down at my side and began talking like nothing had happened between her and Blair. "It seems like we're in luck. Shi Yun doesn't trust Ashleigh yet. We can use that."

I smiled in delight. "If Shi Yun doesn't trust her, then that means that Alana is going to have some doubts about her too."

The thought made me ecstatic. Stealing Ashleigh Brightstar away from Alana and her group was going to be easy as pie.

Zelda

Talking to Ashleigh was fun. She could be so serious, and yet be saying something completely ridiculous. From what I had learned, her parents were still happily married; she had an older brother in college, and a married older sister.

When she asked about my hair, I told her that I had done it on a dare a while ago, and had liked it so much that I just kept it that way.

I glanced over at the football team's table to see Chris Wegner looking at Eva longingly, as usual. Eva noticed him too, and her eyes were sad.

She'd broken up with Chris last semester when she'd thought she was going to die. When she stayed alive, barely, she'd been too afraid to ask him to go out with her again, despite the fact that he so obviously wanted to.

The warning bell rang for the beginning of fourth period. Ashleigh stood up right away. She fumbled around in her bag for a little while before she found her schedule. "I've got Spanish next," she told me, looking hopeful.

Ruefully, I shook my head. "Helen's got Spanish next period, though." Helen nodded and smiled at Ashleigh, and held out her hand. We all expected Ashleigh to flinch back automatically, but she just grasped Helen's hand with her hand and helped her up.

"Great," Ashleigh said brightly. "Would you be willing to be my escort?"

Helen laughed and agreed. I watched them, a little jealously, as they walked to Ms. Santita's room.

Turning to Alana, Giana, Eva, and Shi Yun, I commented, "Well, I think that went well. She didn't run away screaming, and she didn't seem afraid of Helen." Shi Yun snorted.

"Zelda, you are _so_ naïve if you judge people's character on whether or not they're afraid of Helen. Maybe she's never seen the X-Men movies."

I frowned at her. "That's not even possible. And not everyone is as paranoid as you are, Shi Yun. Excuse me for not being afraid of my own shadow."

Shi Yun stared at me calmly, but her cheeks had turned very red. "First of all, it is entirely plausible that she has never seen the X-Men movies. Not everyone is as obsessed with the X-Men as you and Helen. And second of all, I'm cautious, not paranoid. Maybe if you were a bit more _cautious_, Jubilee and Monotone would be on our side instead of Bunny's. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to Home Ec."

She whipped around and strode to the cafeteria doors, giving me the pinkie the entire way. I jumped out of my seat and ran after her.

Grabbing her arm, I dragged her into the girls' bathroom. After I checked all the stalls to make sure no one was listening, I turned to her, my arms folded across my chest.

"First of all, you _know_ Jubilee and Monotone weren't my fault. I can only sense people's real feelings when I'm in the water, and I'm in my second form. How was I supposed to know that they thought we were weird and too intense? You _know_ why I couldn't tell that. So don't throw that back in my face. Don't you think I feel awful enough that Bunny has two incredibly strong allies on her side?

"Second of all," I continued more gently, "I know that you're being especially cautious, after what happened to Kira, but Helen took Ashleigh's hand, remember? She would have told us if there were any malicious thoughts in Ashleigh's pretty little head. The only reason Helen couldn't help us with Jubilee and Monotone is that she broke her pinkie and her powers went bananas, remember? She had to stay in her room.

"But Helen can help us now. And she obviously hasn't sensed anything out of place about Ashleigh, so don't get your panties in a wad."

Shi Yun rolled her eyes, and stalked past me out of the bathroom. "Yeah, sure, Zelda. Thanks for that little pep talk. But I won't trust Ashleigh Brightstar until she's proven herself. And you've made me late for class. Not everyone has the luck of having study hall right after lunch."

I gasped. "Oh, crap!" I exclaimed. I zipped past a bewildered Shi Yun and sprinted to my locker. I fumbled with the lock for a few seconds until finally I just spoke two words. The lock fell open in my hand, and my locker door swung open. I grabbed my swimsuit, and ran to the girls' locker room in the swimming pool area.

Coach Leslie was there, and she did not look happy. "You're late, Schlepper." I apologized profusely as I changed as quickly as possible.

I ran out to the pool and did a swan dive. I stayed under for a little while, allowing all of my thoughts and half-thoughts to disperse into the water.

I came up and looked into Coach Leslie's face.

Even though I figured that Coach Leslie was around forty-three years old, she still looked really young. All the physical training she did, I guessed. Her hair was dark brown, with hints of red whenever the sun hit her just right. Her eyes were beautiful, the exact color of milk chocolate, and framed by long lashes. Her skin was tan and fresh-looking, not weathered or wrinkled at all.

Coach Leslie had long, muscular legs that came from running, and strong, muscular arms that came from swimming and endless amounts of push-ups.

"Let's see how long it takes you to do ten laps back and forth across the pool," she said, disguising a command as a suggestion.

I obeyed and set myself free in the water. I reminded myself that I had to pretend to come up for air like a normal person, so I lifted my head every thirty-five seconds.

I finished my laps, and looked at Coach Leslie. Her mouth had fallen open, and her whistle lay limply against her chest. Her clipboard lay on the ground, paper side down.

I frowned at myself. Maybe I'd let myself go a little too fast. "Did I make the team?" I pretended to ask timidly. I already knew the answer.

"You're kidding me, right?" Coach Leslie replied, slowly regaining her composure. "Practice is at six a.m. every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday morning."

I smiled as I got out of the pool. I couldn't wait to tell Alana.

Ashleigh

I really enjoyed eating lunch with Alana and her friends, actually a bit more than I thought I would. From the first I had seen that Alana, Giana, Helen, Zelda, Shi Yun, and Eva were all best friends (not an easy feat, I can tell you!) and I had thought it would be awkward to intrude on their friendship.

To my surprise, they were all incredibly nice and didn't make me feel like an outsider at all.

I liked Zelda the most. She was definitely different, with her bright pink pixie cut, and even more bouncy than Bunny. She was like the Energizer Bunny (no pun intended). She just kept going and going…

Giana was hilarious, with her obviously fake attempt at a British accent in an effort to sound foreign. She really did look like an Egyptian queen, but when her ersatz accent faltered, she sounded more like she was from New York than from Alexandria.

Helen was also someone who amused me. She looked like that actress (What was her name again? I couldn't remember) in _X-men_, who played Rogue. She had the accent, the dog tags, the gloves, everything. She had well mastered the art of sarcasm, just like I had.

Eva was one I wasn't sure about my feelings for. She was just as nice and inviting as the others had been, but she seemed to be in another world half the time. Her eyes were beautiful and captivating, but extremely unnerving, as were the gold streaks in her hair that so closely resembled small golden feathers.

Eva's English had seemed to be normal, no accent whatsoever, until her phone vibrated in her pocket. When she looked at the caller ID, she rolled her eyes as she answered. "_Que?_" she inquired. I blinked as she chattered away in rapid Spanish for a minute. Alana had glared at her until Eva yammered one last sentence and hit the off button. "Sorry about that," she apologized to me. I smiled and nodded. I wasn't about to tell her I was fluent in Spanish, and was only taking it this year to have one easy subject.

I wasn't sure how I felt about Shi Yun, either. She wasn't as effusive as the others, her smile not as wide, her eyes not as genuinely delighted as the others' had been. Something about her suggested that she mistrusted me, for whatever reason.

I was very disappointed to find out that Zelda did not have Spanish (she took French), but Helen was the next best choice. I watched everyone smile a little as she stretched her hand toward me. They had all expected me to flinch, apparently. Just to gall them, I had grasped her hand without batting an eyelash.

On the way to Spanish, I couldn't help but recall the conversation that Eva hadn't known that I understood.

"_I don't know what her second form is yet,_" Eva had said._ "I just met her, for goodness' sake. But my guess is a dragon, or maybe a wyvern. I'm not sure, but those are my best guesses. Whatever she is, she's extraordinarily powerful. I can't get through her mental block even when I use all my strength._" Eva had paused, listened for a moment and then hissed, "_Not until Halloween, you pig head! And no you can't meet her. You're not going to screw this up for us, you understand? You won't see her or talk to her until we discover what she is, and she's learned to control her powers._" She had paused, listened a while more, and smiled. "_I love you too, Bapi._"

Now that I thought about it, a lot was wrong with that conversation. Second form? Dragon? Wyvern? Mental block?

"You okay?" It was Helen's voice that brought me back from my reverie. We were sitting in Spanish class, waiting on the teacher. All the guys were goofing off, throwing spitballs and whatnot, while the girls filed their nails and texted on their phones.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied. Helen nodded, and went back to doodling on her notebook while I thought.

Ms. Santita finally walked in. She placed a large folder on her desk, and turned to write on the blackboard. "Hola, mi estudiantes," she greeted. Half the class stared at her blankly, while the other half, including Helen and I, chorused, "Hola, maestra."

Ms. Santita tsked. "Ay, no, that will not do. Now, when I say, 'Hola, mi estudiantes,' you must reply, 'Hola, maestra.' Now, let us try again." This time we greeted her properly, and she was satisfied.

"Muy bien, mi estudiantes! Ah," she said, her eyes lighting on me. I shrank back in my seat. "I see we have a new student. Why don't you come up and tell us about yourself, mi muchacha." I watched everyone turn toward me. Some were snickering behind their hands, and others looked at me sympathetically.

I stood up and slowly walked to the front of the classroom, mortified.

When I reached the blackboard, Ms. Santita was looking at her attendance sheet. "You are Miss Ashleigh Brightar, si?" I nodded. Ms Santita raised her eyebrows at me, waiting.

I cleared my throat and replied, "Si, maestra." She nodded, and smiled. She asked me where I came from. "I transferred here from Florida." I crossed my fingers, hoping that this would satisfy her.

Not quite. "Miss Brightstar, why don't you tell the class your hobbies," she said. She paused, and smiled at me. "In Spanish."

I was even more horrified than ever. If I spoke the Spanish fluently, then not only would I make everyone in class hate me, but I might be transferred into Advanced Spanish. And if I didn't…I'd be completely humiliated.

I would just have to pretend to stumble over a few words. I began by saying I loved to write, sing, read, and ride my bike. Then I mentioned shopping and tanning, which made the other girls smile, except for one, with black hair, deathly pale skin, and creepy black eyes (no whites whatsoever!). She glared at me, her teeth bared in a snarl. I noticed with a shock that her canines were definitely longer than any normal person's.

My tongue stumbled over saying that I like playing football and street hockey, bringing out surprised laughter from a few of the guys.

Ms. Santita nodded at me, and I stumbled over to my desk. I was still staring in shock at the pale girl, who was smiling at me now, no trace of anger or hatred on her face.

Helen placed a steadying hand on my arm as I sat down, and immediately glanced over at the girl. The girl smiled maliciously at Helen, and Helen snarled under her breath. It sounded remarkably like a lion. Or some other large cat.

Everyone turned in our direction, except for Ms. Santita, who placidly continued to write on the blackboard. "Please put away your MP3 player, whoever that is, or I'll turn around and confiscate it."

A few people guiltily shoved something into their backpacks, including Helen. Only the pale girl still looked at us, plainly astonished.

Ms. Santita turned around and caught the girl looking at us instead of the blackboard. "Miss Blair, though you may believe that you're grades are good enough that you don't need to work, I know better. Please turn around."

I expected Blair to blush—that's what any normal girl would have done. But she didn't. She simply turned around. I could tell from the set of her jaw that she was either angry or humiliated. Possibly, and probably, both.

Helen's eyes looked panicky, and I couldn't understand why. I watched her throw a few frantic glances toward Blair, and I realized that Blair was the source of her fear. I couldn't figure out why.

Helen was texting on her cell phone madly with one hand, and writing down notes with the other. I, too, took notes. That is, I took notes until Zelda showed up at the door with a pass, claiming that she needed to take me to the office.

Helen looked relieved, and now she was using both of her hands to write her notes: one to hold the paper flat, and the other to swiftly jot down every word Ms. Santita spouted.

I walked out of the classroom, silently accepting the hall pass from Ms. Santita. Everyone in the room, except for Helen and Blair, was glaring at me sullenly.

Zelda smiled at me, and as soon as we were out of earshot, she said, "I only have about a half hour left, but what do you want to do?" I looked at her blankly, confused.

"I thought you said I had to go to the office for something," I replied in a puzzled voice. Zelda laughed quietly, which was unusual for her.

"Ashleigh, we were only trying to keep you from Blair. She's one of Bunny's cronies." I rolled my eyes. I could _not_ believe this.

"Look, don't you think you guys are taking this a bit too far?" I inquired, slightly irritated. "I like you guys, but who knows maybe I'll like Bunny and her friends when I sit with them at lunch tomorrow."

Zelda whirled around, grabbing me by the wrist and shoving me against a locker. "You're sitting with Bunny at lunch tomorrow?" she asked, looking frantic. There was the same panicky look in her eyes that Helen had had.

I looked at her in surprise. "Jeez, Zelda. What do you guys have against Bunny?"

Zelda frowned, and moved her hand. "Sorry about that," she said, as I rubbed my wrist. I shrugged. I was more interested in having my question answered.

Zelda looked as if she was about to say something, when her eyes darted to the right. "Oh, no," she breathed. "Quick, act like you're not feeling well."

I obeyed without hesitation, for I had seen Mr. Fowlson on the prowl too.

Mr. Fowlson was undeniably the most despised teacher at this school. And there was some pretty stiff competition, let me tell you.

I'm not saying that he wasn't a good teacher. He was a terrific teacher. I would probably learn more about History this school year than I ever had. But he had a tendency to be inflexible, and on occasion downright rude.

Fowlson had a stiff, gray brush of a moustache, and pearly white teeth. His eyes were a very nice shade of blue, and might even be considered attractive, but since he was usually looking at someone coldly and critically, no one noticed this.

He was tall and lean, with large hands, and even larger feet. He wore his iron gray hair cropped close to his head. From what I could see, he wasn't balding. Yet.

I put my hands to my head and started to complain in a loud voice to Zelda about my massive headache. "It just came on all of a sudden. Like, one minute I was in Spanish class talking to Ms. Santita, and the next minute it feels like someone's trying to shove a pickax through my head."

Zelda pretended to cover her mouth in horror, but I knew that she was actually hiding a smile. Maybe I was laying it on a little thick.

Mr. Fowlson approached us, his eyes carefully noting my agonized face, and the orange passes in our hands. He smiled a fake smile at me and said sardonically, "I couldn't help but hear about your affliction. I do hope that it's nothing that will keep you from coming to my office after school this afternoon."

I blinked, and tried to smile back at him. "I-I'm sure it won't be," I stammered. "I just need to pop a couple of aspirin, and I'll be fine." My smile seemed a bit like something I had pasted onto my face.

Mr. Fowlson nodded, and continued walking, apparently satisfied.

_I_ wasn't, however. I wanted to know two things: One, what did Alana and her friends have against Bunny? Did Bunny deal drugs? Date their brothers and then crush their brothers' hearts?

Two, why the heck did I have to go see Fowlson after school today? What did I do to deserve _that_?

Shi Yun

I was distracted when I walked into Home Ec, and I didn't notice that I had a partner until I accidentally hit her with my elbow. "Oh my gosh. I am so sorry. I'm a klutz," I explained, smiling at her apologetically. She just looked at me with no feeling on her face whatsoever.

"Gah!" I jumped back as I realized who she was. _Nice going, Shi Yun_, I thought to myself. I hadn't even noticed that Monique was my partner.

Her face was still perfectly blank, and she turned to the front of the room again. "Aren't you supposed to be in Algebra 2 right now?" I inquired, fighting to hide the tremor in my voice.

To my surprise, she snorted. I couldn't believe it. _Monique had shown emotion_! "What, do you have our schedules memorized or something?" she asked sarcastically. She knew the answer to that question.

"No," I lied. "Alana and Giana are in your class, remember?" It was true, but that wasn't how I knew her schedule. I knew it, and she knew it. Monique shrugged, and opened her notebook to scrawl something down.

Mr. Daly, a wizened little old man who used to be some television star chef, scurried into the room. "Sorry, sorry. I know how eager you all are to start class. So silly of me to be late." He smiled at me, and I smiled back.

Mr. Daly had tufts of white hair crowning his little head, and masses of wrinkles shrouded his face. His brown eyes, hidden behind his coke-bottle glasses, were bright and intelligent. He had a round red nose, and surprisingly quick hands, for such an old man.

I sincerely loved Mr. Daly. He was like the grandpa I'd never had. He was patient, and when he got excited (which was often) he started waving his hands around as he explained how he had made up so many delicious recipes. This was my third year of taking his class.

I looked to my left, and Monique was gone. Freaky how she'd done that. Then again, she was a very good mage. Luckily, I was a better one.

I sat through ten minutes of Mr. Daly lecturing two jerks who thought it would be hilarious to disrupt the class and set themselves on fire. The idiots didn't know that you had to have a password to open the fire extinguisher, and Mr. Daly had forgotten it. Melissa Lykner, who sat directly behind them, finally ended their yelling by pouring cold milk over their heads.

There they stood, those two dummies, dripping milk, and blinking bemusedly, and I felt something queer in my stomach when I realized that Connor O'Henry was one of them.

I'd had a crush on Connor for as long as I could remember—or at least since the beginning of this school year. Connor had long reddish-brown hair, amber eyes, and a very fine profile. Although these were bonuses, I wouldn't have minded if he had zits all over his body. Well, maybe I would have, but not much.

Connor was a very nice, funny guy. He made me laugh, which was rare for anyone, and he was a conservative. That alone qualified him in my book. He didn't believe in affirmative action, supported lower taxes and smaller government. I'd been raised with these principles, and it was very rare to find a person who even thought about them once.

Connor caught me looking at him, although I looked down as quickly as I could. I peeked up again to see him grinning sheepishly. I felt my heart turn over.

Mr. Daly finally remembered the password and opened the cabinet for the fire extinguisher. He turned around and stared at the dripping, wet boys standing in the middle of the room. He blinked, and put the fire extinguisher away.

"Well, what are you doing standing there?" he inquired peevishly. "Go back to your desk. But before you do that, please get Miss Lykner some more milk."

"We're soaking wet!" Tony Lynn protested, brushing his milk-soaked dirty blond hair out of his face. Mr. Daly shrugged, and Tony muttered something obscene under his breath.

Connor went to the refrigerator in the corner of the room and took out a pitcher of milk. He handed it to Tony, who slammed it onto Melissa's desk, still muttering. Their shoes squeaked as they walked back to their desks. The class tittered.

Mr. Daly continued on talking about how to make the perfect crème brulee. I fidgeted. I didn't like crème brulee, and I probably never would. The strangeness of the texture bothered me. Just like strawberries and pears.

I didn't have a partner today. I rarely did. I stuck out like a sore thumb, but who cared?

Mr. Daly looked at the empty seat next to me, and then at Connor and Tony goofing off. He got a strange look in his eye that made me cringe. "Mr. O'Henry, would you kindly be Shi Yun's partner for the day?"

I felt my face go very red. I wanted so badly to cover my face with my hands that I had to sit on them to keep myself from doing so. Connor bumped fists with Tony, shook his hair one last time, and made his way, grinning, towards me.

I edged my seat slightly farther away from the chair next to me, so his long legs would have more room to maneuver.

Suddenly, I heard Eva's voice in my head. _What are you all a-flutter about_? she inquired curiously. I thought of Connor for a brief second. _Oh,_ she thought sourly. She didn't say anything more. She didn't need to.

_Don't worry,_ I thought back to her. _I know you don't like him._

Eva's thoughts were gentler now. _You don't have to do that,_ she told me. I mentally shrugged, and we disconnected.

Connor was sitting right next to me. I could feel waves of his body heat, he was sitting so close. His leg banged into mine, and when I peered at him out of the corner of my eye, I saw him doing the same.

We both immediately looked again at Mr. Daly, embarrassed.

After class was over, and our crème brulee came out perfectly, Mr. Daly called us over to his desk. "You two will be partners from now on," he informed us. Connor didn't look unhappy.

I was, however. To be that close, and yet so far away, was going to be excruciating.

Eva

I felt awful about what Shi Yun was going through. To be honest, it wasn't that I didn't like Connor. I just didn't want Shi Yun to be with the guy she liked when I couldn't be with mine.

Selfish of me, I knew. And stupid, too. The only reason I couldn't be with the guy I liked was because I was a coward. But I also knew that what had happened to me might happen to anyone in our little group. Anyone we grew close to, besides each other, was a liability. I didn't want Shi Yun to be crushed like I had.

Although, as I examined her thoughts, unbeknownst to her, I realized that she was already crushed. And all because of me.

I groaned in self-disgust, before remembering that I was in Biology. The entire class, including Mrs. Spencer, looked at me. I felt myself blush, even as I smiled and waggled my fingers in a half-hearted attempt at a wave.

Some of the girls rolled their eyes, and a few giggled, but many of them glared at me in hostility. I scanned their thoughts quickly, and realized that they thought I was being a show-off and groaning because I already knew all this stuff. Oops.

"It's going to take me forever to finish my homework with this hard stuff we're doing," I lied quickly, pretending to be worried. "How am I going to find time to shop for a costume for the Halloween Dance?"

Now all of the girls were giggling, and the guys were the ones rolling their eyes. Whew. Mrs. Spencer glared at me from over her glasses. I had to smooth things over with her, without making the girls hate me again.

"Sorry, Mrs. Spencer. It's just really hard to juggle academics and my social life, what with everything else going on. You know, the stuff I told you about?" I planted thoughts of fighting parents and oblivious siblings, along with a few shots of me fighting with my friends, into her head.

I winked at everyone else, while Mrs. Spencer's eyes were unfocused. She put her hand over her heart, made due with another stern glare, and I was off the hook. I smiled. I loved being able to read minds.

My smile slid off my face quickly as I thought about the tearing down that Alana was likely to give me when she found out. Who knew how she would find out; she always seemed to simply _know_ everything that went on in the school.

I wondered idly how long it would take for her to find out about _this_ little escapade of mine.

Blair

I did my best to confuse that new girl Ashleigh Brightstar about me. If she had doubts about me, she would have doubts about Bunny.

When Alana had asked me if I would become a double agent, I immediately agreed.

I hated how Bunny talked down to me, like she was more powerful than I was. She wasn't. I was a hair quicker, a shade more skilled.

I'd clung to Bunny, first because it seemed like she actually wanted me around, and then later to spy on her for Alana.

Maybe it was weird for me to switch parties like that. But to be honest, no one trusted a vampire anyway. Might as well play the game as the name, I always said. Well, my game was a lot more deadly than most. One false move, and either Bunny and her friends would kill me, or Alana and her friends were going to.

I met up with Alana in the girls' bathroom during my study hall period. She tapped her perfectly manicured nails against the ceramic sink. I stared at the pulse in her wrist, and felt an overpowering sense of thirst.

I carefully averted my gaze, ignoring my burning throat.

"Well?" she snapped, finally ceasing her tapping. I glared at her, putting my hands on my hips. I knew that a lot of people found my pure black eyes creepy, and Alana was no exception. She looked down, and I smiled briefly.

"If I wanted to be talked to like that, I'd have stuck with Bunny," I bit out, trying to hold my breath so I couldn't catch her scent.

Alana seemed oblivious to my discomfort, just like Bunny was. Stupidheads. Honestly, why did I put myself through this crap?

But I knew the answer to my own question. For Maman. And Papa. And…I forced myself to think the last name. And Adrienne. My own little revenge that no one knew about.

"I think Ashleigh's frightened of me. But unfortunately, Helen was worried about her, and she and Zelda got her out of the room as fast as possible. Tell me again why you haven't told them about this?"

Alana sighed, and sagged against the wall. "Because they would think I was nuts. They'd think that I was losing my touch, and they'd get rid of me. And then they would all die. They _need_ me, Blair. I'm the one that does the planning, the thinking. The others, they're great thinkers, don't get me wrong. But they can't _improvise_. If something goes wrong with a plan, they panic. They need me there when that happens. I love them all too much to let them die. And if that means I have to keep secrets from them, then so be it."

I didn't let it show on my face, but I was shocked. I knew that Bunny had no such compulsion to keep her "friends" safe. I doubted whether she felt that deeply about anyone but herself. She kept her friends around because she was a power-hungry, selfish person, whose life would be incomplete if she wasn't bossing someone around.

Suddenly, I lifted my nose, and sniffed. Alana watched me curiously. "Get out of here!" I hissed at her. She looked at me blankly. "If you don't want your friends to find out about me, you need to leave through the back door _now_!"

She nodded, and ran to the back door. At the last moment, she turned around. "Thanks, Blair. Really." I nodded to her, and ran into a bathroom stall, locking the door.

A few blinks later, Shi Yun came in. My throat ripped into flames again as she splashed herself with water. For a moment, there was silence; then I heard a strange noise. A strange, hiccupping gasp…was Shi Yun _crying_?

The tears continued for a few minutes, before Shi Yun decided to pull herself together. She washed her face again, dried her hands, and walked out.

I released the breath I'd been holding, and left my stall. I picked up the paper towel Shi Yun had used, and what I saw in her memories nearly knocked me over. "_Oh_," I gasped.

Shi Yun was in love with Connor O'Henry. But she wasn't going to date him because Eva didn't want her to.

I was realizing something about these girls. Maybe they really did all hate Bunny and her friends. And it was certainly a rallying point. But something else bound these friends together. Something that had been absent from my life for a long time. The answer was simple, or maybe it was seriously complicated. It was love.

As I exited the bathroom, I wondered wryly what Bunny would think of a vampire who was considering taking up matchmaking.

Alana

I cornered Giana on her way to Precalculus. "Hey, Gi, you think you could scrounge up some gold glitter gel?" I asked innocently. Code words rocked.

Giana shrugged. "Thanks so much Gi," I squealed, hugging her tightly.

Suddenly, I heard Blair's voice in my head. _We need to talk_. I jumped instinctively.

I was confused. Hadn't we just talked?

_Yeah, but I found something out after you left._

Probably that Bunny was planning another fight in our usual place. Not a surprise.

_Stop guessing._ I rolled my eyes. Okay, so it wasn't a fight.

_No, it's not a freaking fight. Jeez. It's the fact that Shi Yun likes Connor O'Henry. _

Blink. What the heck? Since when? I racked my brains, and realized that I had caught her staring at him quite a lot. And she did turn pink whenever his name was mentioned, now that I thought about it. But I hadn't processed it. I mean, Shi Yun with a crush? It was so unlike her!

_Yeah, well, unlike her or not, she's hurting over this. Eva doesn't want her to date him. So Shi Yun is going to give him up. Problem is, he's her partner in Home Ec._

I blew out a breath. Oh, boy. I could definitely see how that could be a problem. I couldn't help but be annoyed, however. Didn't we have enough drama in our lives, without heartache added to the mix? Especially when Shi Yun was still so hurt about Kira.

_Maybe you could tell Eva to lay off of her or something. I just know that unless Eva either backs off and lets Shi Yun date him, or he turns over to the dark side, Shi Yun might end up doing something drastic._

Shi Yun? Do something drastic? Over a _boy_? Yeah, right.

_You're not listening to me. She was crying, okay? So if you want to win, you need to deal with it. _

Blair cut off abruptly.

I rubbed my temples with my fingertips. Good grief. What was I supposed to do about this? Eva would be upset if Shi Yun dated Connor. And Shi Yun would be upset if she didn't get to date Connor.

The only way, I decided, was to get Eva her boyfriend back, while at the same time getting Shi Yun with hers. This was going to be tough.

To make things worse, when I walked into study hall, I realized that I'd been gone for about twenty minutes. Mr. Smith (really original name) informed me that from now on, I would be accompanied to and from the restroom, to make sure I didn't take so long this time.

The person accompanying me? Chelsea Reubae. Teacher's pet. Red hair, bright green eyes, glasses, braces, asthma. No qualms whatsoever about tattling. She was going to be a pain in the butt.

Why me?

Giana

Sometimes I wondered if Alana was really a dumb blonde. I mean, why on earth would she make the words "gold glitter gel" into code for "speak to Eva"? And what exactly was I speaking to Eva about?

Actually, I already knew the answer to my question. I would be talking to her about Chris. I was _always_ talking to Eva about asking Chris out again. Honestly, I didn't think that she'd ever gather up enough courage to ask him out. It took her two months to break up with him in the first place!

While I was thinking, I bumped into Alana's brother, whose name was also Chris.

Christopher Winthorpe was really dreamy. If I hadn't thought of him as a brother, I would have had a crush on him. No one in their family was quite sure how, but he had long blue-black hair. His eyes were sea-green, and his skin was even paler than his sister's, almost translucent. Despite his looks, he sounded just like his sister: British.

"Hello, Chris," I smiled, giving him a quick hug.

"I hear you got a new girl," he commented, absently patting my head.

I stepped out from underneath his hand and glared at him. Okay so I was only four foot two. That didn't mean he had to treat me like a little kid. I crossed my arms and tapped my foot as I waited for his apology.

He grinned down at me from his gargantuan height of six foot four. "Touchy, touchy," he commented. I glared at him some more. "Sorry," he snickered, not sounding sorry at all. I figured that was probably the best I was going to get out of him.

"Yeah, we got a new girl. Her name is Ashleigh Brightstar, and she's a ten on all scales. You do know, however, that I find the scales demeaning, don't you?" I sighed dramatically. Chris had these scales from one to ten. Girls were rated on their personality, their looks, and their trustworthiness. It was stupid.

I saw Ashleigh walking down the hallway towards us, looking harassed. She had red flags in her cheeks, and her eyes were bright and curious. "Here she comes right now," I told Chris, pointing her out to him.

Chris sucked in a breath and didn't say anything. I smirked. Seemed like a lot of guys felt the same way, judging from all the stares (and glares) that followed after her. I waved to her.

"Hi, Ashleigh," I exclaimed. She looked up and smiled at me shyly. Her right cheek dimpled.

When she got close enough, I gave her a quick hug. She hugged me back. "Hey Giana," she said, somewhat absently. Her forehead creased.

"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned. She didn't look happy in the least. She bit her lip, and shrugged. I crossed my arms and looked up at her.

"Do you know why Mr. Fowlson would want to see me after school today? I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything wrong, but this school has so many meaningless rules…" she trailed off, her frown deepening.

Chris chuckled, and I jumped. He'd been being so silent before, I had forgotten he was there. "You're new, right?" Chris asked her, still laughing. "Fowlson always wants to meet the new people. Just talk with them and share the rules, he says. More like scare them to death and make sure they don't give him any problems in class, in my opinion." He offered her a gorgeous smile.

Ashleigh blinked at him slowly. It wasn't a "hello, you're hot" blink. Nor was it an "I'm not batting my eyelashes at _all_" blink. Those were the blinks he usually got. Instead, it was a "who the hell are you, and why are you talking to me" blink. I struggled to hide a smile. I didn't think Chris had ever gotten one of _those_ blinks.

Chris looked a little shell-shocked; he was probably surprised that she hadn't reacted to him in the way most girls normally did. Pointedly ignoring him, Ashleigh looked at her watch. "Shoot," she muttered. "I gotta go to English." I nodded. She turned to leave, and then she said, "Hey, do you know why Zelda was all freaked out because I'm sitting with Bunny tomorrow?" She looked puzzled, and a little scornful, like she thought we were prejudiced or something.

I shrugged, hiding my panic. "No idea," I lied. "None of us really likes Bunny. Ditto for her friends. And they don't like us either. We're kind of…archenemies."

Ashleigh didn't look quite satisfied. "I'll explain more to you later," I said hurriedly. "You should probably get to class. The warning bell is about to ring, and your English room is right in the middle of the school."

Ashleigh nodded. "Bye, Giana," she called over her shoulder. Again, she completely ignored Chris. I wondered why.

Chris apparently wanted to know the same thing. "I thought you said she was a ten on _all_ the scales," he said accusingly, his eyes narrowed. I smiled angelically.

"Well, she was perfectly nice to us," I pointed out. "You're the only one I've seen her be rude to. And she wasn't that mean. She was probably just preoccupied."

Then I realized that Chris had his arm slung across my shoulders, and his chin resting on top of my head. "Or she thought we were a couple and you were coming on to her with me right here." I had to let out a laugh at that one.

Chris looked surprised. "We don't look like a couple…do we?" he asked, looking confused. I just looked at him in disbelief. He didn't _see_ how people could misconstrue his position? Good grief. There was no friggin' way that he was related to Alana.

"Yes, Chris, we look like a couple to pretty much everyone in the school." I couldn't believe that he couldn't see. I pretended to cough so I could hide a smile. And people said that blondes were dumb.

"Crap. That kinda throws a wrench in my plans to ask her out," Chris said, smacking himself on the forehead. I snickered. He glared down at me, and I involuntarily cowered. He _was_ nearly two times my height. Not to mention lean and muscular, like a jaguar. Whereas I was slender, with no muscles to speak of. And I was clumsy to boot, so there was no chance of running away.

He smiled, and kissed my forehead. "You better get to class. And tell my sister to subtly inform Ashleigh that we are not dating. And that I have no girlfriend. And that I'm at loose ends for a date this Friday night. And that…" I ran away, laughing, crossing my arms as if to ward him off.

"Okay, okay. Tell Alana that she needs to talk you up to Ashleigh. I get it. Bye, Chris."

I giggled and stepped into the classroom on my right. Chris was head over heels for Ashleigh, and she hadn't even talked to him yet. Go figure.

Bunny

I watched with narrowed eyes as Giana and Ashleigh conversed. Chris was staring at Ashleigh, like pretty much every guy in school. Idiots all of them. They only liked her because she was new.

At least, that was what I was telling myself. I knew deep down that they weren't wrong in thinking that she was attractive. And she wasn't a hoochie mama, nor was she a hottie. She was just _pretty_. And I knew for a fact that her long lashes had not been lengthened with mascara, like mine had. It was so unfair.

Chris said something to Ashleigh, chuckling, and flashed her a breathtaking smile. He had never smiled at me like that, but he was smiling at Ashleigh like that. Then again, he did think that I was evil personified. So if we _had_ dated, that might have put a bit of a damper on the relationship.

I was standing in a doorway a few yards away from Giana and Ashleigh. Every time Giana's or Chris' eyes seemed to dart my way, I jerked back behind the wall. Everyone in the hall was too absorbed in their own lives to notice me whipping back and forth. Even so, I felt a little embarrassed. I was sure that I looked like a lunatic.

I peeked back around the doorframe. From the look on Chris' face, and the humor in Giana's black eyes, Ashleigh had not responded as was expected of females to Chris. I smiled.

I was incredibly lucky that my next class coincided with Ashleigh's. We hadn't talked since the showdown between Alana and I in History this morning. Alana had had her turn to inundate Ashleigh. Now it was my turn to tell a few tales of my own.

I watched as Ashleigh left for class, pointedly not saying good-bye to Chris. I looked around the doorframe again, and saw Giana looking at Chris in stunned disbelief. I longed to know what they were saying. Unfortunately, they had blocks around their minds that were like brick walls. Eva's work, obviously. Chris and Giana would never have managed blocks like that on their own. Even Blair couldn't get through them. I knew that for a fact because I tested her almost every day.

She would try for about ten minutes her eyes glazed and distant. Then she would sigh and admit that she couldn't do it. Although Alicia frequently insisted that Blair was untrustworthy, I knew the opposite. Blair was bizarrely moral for a vampire. I was surprised that she could even tolerate being in school with all these humans. Someone who was willing to do that couldn't be dishonest if she tried.

After Giana and Chris left for their respective classes, I sped down the hall to catch up with Ashleigh.

She had paused at the water fountain for a quick drink. I watched her hold her hair back with one hand while she drank. A single curly tendril drifted past her face and got soaked.

I crept up behind her and poked her in her side. Ashleigh shrieked and jumped, letting go of her hair. Her hair immediately landed in the water fountain and got wet on the ends.

Turning to me, her eyes were dangerously angry. Jeez. All I'd done was give her a little scare. So her hair had gotten a little wet. What was the big deal? This girl was touchy, for sure.

When she saw it was me, however, her expression immediately softened to congeniality. "Oh, hey Bunny," she smiled, all traces of her former irritation gone.

I realized that even though Ashleigh had quickly gotten angry, she had just as quickly capped her emotions. I saw no evidence on her face that she had been livid just a few seconds before. Weird.

Nevertheless, I smiled, bouncing a little on the balls of my feet. "Hiya, Ashleigh! How's it going?" I chirped. Ashleigh looked at me like I was severely disturbed, but the expression left her face almost before it was there. Again with the controlled emotions.

"Well, I'm on my way to English," she informed me, striding down the hall. I had to trot to keep up with her. If it had been anyone else, I would have made them slow down. But this was Ashleigh Brightstar, and I was pretty sure she wouldn't listen to me. And influencing her mind was a no go. She had a shield around her mind that resembled a steel trap. Nothing slipped out, and nothing in the world was going to slither its way inside. Not even anything so subtle as a suggestion that she slow down because the girl accompanying her was about half a foot shorter than she was.

As if she had read my thoughts, Ashleigh's pace slowed, and soon we were walking side by side. "So, who do you have for English?" I asked, like I didn't already know. I'd done my homework. And apparently, Alana hadn't. I wanted to smirk, but I didn't want to evoke Ashleigh's suspicion.

"Ms. Gallagher. I hear she's really sweet," Ashleigh commented. She turned to the left, and I followed suit. I was slightly confused. This was her first day of school. She should have been consulting a map. Instead, she was walking around like she'd been going to this school for years.

"Yeah, she looks like Bambi. She has pretty, fawn-colored hair, and wide, light brown eyes. She's kinda short, about my height I guess, so that would make her 5'4''. And her skin is like, translucent. She's so pretty, nobody even gives her any trouble. And also she's nice. Really nice. But not the kind of nice you want to take advantage of. Just the kind of nice you appreciate."

Of course, that hadn't kept me from influencing her to do some pretty crazy things in my first semester. But it hadn't been as satisfying as it was with most people, and I had soon dropped it. This wasn't something I was about to share with Ashleigh.

Ashleigh nodded absently.

The warning bell rang, and everyone in the hall scrambled to make last minute appointments with their friends, cram a few extra books into their backpacks, or get in a few extra seconds of kissing. Bleh. Ashleigh stared in horror at two emo kids making out furiously in a corner, before extricating themselves and going to their separate classes.

I snickered, and Ashleigh looked down at me, her face cherry red. "I can't believe that they are allowed to do that in the hallway. At my old school in Florida, we had very strict rules about PDA. No holding hands, no kissing, and definitely no…necking."

I choked out a laugh. "What did you just call that?" I gasped out. Ashleigh looked worried, and pulled a tissue from her brown and gold Dolce and Gabbana clutch. She offered it to me, but I waved her away. I was nearly under control already. I just couldn't believe that she had used that word to describe making out. It was so…weird.

The expression on her face puzzled, she inquired, "What was that all about?" I snickered again. I just couldn't help myself. I mean, honestly. _Necking_? The only people I knew who used that word were old people.

"Nothing," I lied, still sniggering.

Ashleigh just shook her head and kept walking. The hallways were almost empty now, a few stragglers still scurrying towards their classes.

Finally, we reached our English class, with seconds to spare. I slid into the seat on Ashleigh's right. Finally, I had her all to myself.

Or so I thought. Within seconds of my assumption, Shi Yun ghosted to Ashleigh's side. There was no expression on her face whatsoever when she looked at me. Not even the slightest hint of surprise. Why wasn't she freaking out right now? More importantly, how could I have forgotten that Shi Yun was in Ms. Gallagher's class for sixth period?

I wanted to slam my head into the desk over and over again, I felt so stupid. However, I remembered just in time that the students, not to mention the teacher, in my class might find that more than a little disturbing. I sighed.

Ashleigh offered Shi Yun an uncertain smile; Shi Yun grinned back widely. "Hey, Ash!" she gushed effusively, the nickname sliding easily off of her tongue. Now, why hadn't I thought to give Ashleigh a nickname? It would have made her more comfortable with me. Instead, now she was extra chummy with one of Alana's friends. Mistake after mistake.

Ashleigh looked slightly confused, and more than a little pleased. "Hey Shi Yun," she replied, her smile more sure this time. I grimaced slightly. Okay. I could deal with this. I just had to return Ashleigh's attention back to me.

Poking Ashleigh on the shoulder playfully, I asked, giggling, "So, what did you think of Christopher Winthorpe? Pretty hot, huh?"

Ashleigh turned to me briefly, a crease between her eyebrows. "Who?" she said, looking baffled. I looked at Shi Yun over her shoulder, and saw her _smirking_ at me. I scowled, too briefly for Ashleigh's eyes to see, then smiled mischievously.

"You know, that guy you and Giana were with in the hall earlier. He's Alana's brother. That's why they were so chummy in the hall," I informed her. I wasn't surprised that she hadn't realized who Chris was. There was no family resemblance whatsoever.

Ashleigh turned beet red. "Oh!" she gasped, looking horrified. "Oh, my goodness. And I was so cold to him in the hallway!" Ashleigh covered her face with her hands for a brief moment, before gaining control of her emotions almost immediately. How on earth did she do that?

"I thought he was Giana's boyfriend," Ashleigh continued, her voice now as bland as the chicken soup that had been served for lunch today. "I couldn't understand why he was being so…" Ashleigh seemed to struggle to find a word.

"Flirty?" I supplied, curious now. Was this misunderstanding something I could exploit?

"Not exactly. More like, the flirty would come later, if that was all right with me. Kind of, overly friendly. You know? So I was kind of…rude. Well, not kind of. I was extremely rude. Oh, I can't believe I did that." Ashleigh's voice had lost some of its blandness by now, I was pleased to see. Her control over her emotions was uncanny. Most mortals had emotions that were close to the surface, easy to identify. Then again, Ashleigh Brightstar wasn't most mortals.

I nudged her, and was about to repeat my question referring to Chris' gorgeousness when Ms. Gallagher swept into the room. Her wavy hair had been pulled into a messy bun, and her eyes were bright and kind. Her obvious joy made my mind itch. How could she be happy when she was just a human?

Ashleigh sat up straight, like a soldier at attention. I nudged her again. She didn't even blink. It was like I hadn't even touched her. I growled under my breath. Shi Yun looked at me, and her eyes were amused, although the rest of her face was as blank as a piece of paper.

Shi Yun had a special reason to hate me. I'd stolen away her best friend. Turned her over to the dark side. Yada, yada, yada. Whatever. Shi Yun had five other best friends. But, apparently, it wasn't a _whatever_ to Shi Yun. So she and Kira had been like sisters until I interfered. I had lost several sisters in this game that Alana and I played, and while that definitely made me mad and more determined than ever to destroy Alana, I wasn't like, crying over it. Weakling.

Shi Yun turned away from me, shifting her focus to Ms. Gallagher. Ms. Gallagher was taking attendance. "Brightstar?" she called out. Ashleigh smiled sweetly at our teacher. Jeez. Now wasn't this just a match made in Heaven?

_Heaven,_ I thought to myself. _A place that you will never reach because of your reprehensible actions._ I cringed away from the prospect and told the tiny, if insistent, good part of my mind to shut the heck up.

I had been so intent on controlling my thoughts that I hadn't heard Ms. Gallagher call my last name. "Canslay?" Ms. Gallagher called again. I jumped, and the rest of the class laughed.

"Here," I said, blushing furiously.

Ashleigh was the only one in class not laughing. She wasn't even smiling. She just sat there like a stone, her mind in a faraway place. Before I could pinch her, or otherwise bring her back to earth, Shi Yun did it for me. She waved her hand quickly in front of Ashleigh's face. Ashleigh didn't even blink.

Shi Yun shook Ashleigh violently. Ashleigh started. "What?" she gasped, her reverie broken. She looked slightly dazed, as if someone had punched her in the back of her head. Lovely. We had a daydreamer on our hands.

Before Shi Yun could steal my thunder again, I replied quickly. "You kind of zoned out there for a while, Ashleigh. We were getting a bit worried." Shi Yun cut her eyes at me. I gave her a sugary sweet smile in return.

If I hadn't been trying so hard to irk Shi Yun, I might have been able to say what she said next. "So, Ash, do you want to be partners with me?"

Ashleigh's face lit up. "Sure!" she agreed enthusiastically. "I'd love to be your partner." Then she looked at me with a guilty look on her face. "But what about…?" She trailed off, looking uncertain.

I plastered a smile on my face, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. "Don't worry about me," I said, my voice tight. "I'll get one of the guys to be my partner. Since they can't have you or Shi Yun, they'll be ecstatic to have me instead."

Ashleigh bit her lip, still looking unsure. I shoved her lightly on the shoulder. Strangely, the contact burned my skin. Disregarding this as my imagination, I said, more lightly than before, "Really, don't worry about me. You two have fun now, you hear?" I adopted an exaggerated Southern accent for the last part of my sentence, making Ashleigh smile.

This day was definitely not going my way. And I had even splurged on Burger King for breakfast this morning. What a gyp.

Ashleigh

I was horrified at my behavior towards Chris in the hallway. When I thought about it, his stance did seem kind of brotherly. But honestly, what was I supposed to think? He had his chin on top of her head and his arm around her!

Admittedly, Alana or either of the other girls could do the same thing; Giana was extremely short. That didn't necessarily mean that they were dating her.

I paused and pondered my previous thought. Why was it that it was always _Alana_ and her friends? Why didn't I ever think Zelda and her friends? Or Helen and her friends? Was it because Alana had introduced herself to me first, thus making a bigger impression? No, I didn't think so. Zelda and Helen made pretty big impressions.

I guessed that it was because they seemed like Alana's girls. They were terrific on their own, but they were still Alana's. She owned them, wholly and completely. I shuddered. Did I really want to be know as another one of Alana's girls? Was that really what I wanted my identity to be?

Shi Yun scared the living daylights out of me again by shaking me vigorously. "What?" I said, putting my hand over my heart, feeling it pound frantically.

Looking at me pensively, she replied, "You zoned out again. It was kind of creepy. You just kept staring at nothing."

I frowned. Zoning out was not normal for me. Especially not during class. I always paid strict attention to the lesson. I realized with shock, and chagrin, that I couldn't remember a word of what Ms. Gallagher had said just a few moments before. Wow. I really had spaced, hadn't I?

I sat up even straighter than before, and listened carefully to every word that Ms. Gallagher uttered in her soft voice. I took meticulous notes, not leaving anything out.

Bunny didn't seem interested in class. She slouched in her seat, glowering at the clock on the wall opposite us. Her hand lazily guided a dark red pen around in squiggly circles in her notebook. I noticed with distaste that the ink strongly resembled blood. What a strange pen. Why on earth would you want to use something like that?

Shi Yun's emerald green pen suited me much better. The ink was very pretty, glittering like a liquid jewel, even after it dried. The color reminded me of a trip to the Pacific Northwest that my family had taken a few years before. I had loved all the trees around. But what I had loved most of all was the sweet scent of rain and moist earth.

However, my own pen suited me the best. Now that I thought about it, the color of the ink exactly matched the color of Eva's pupils. How weird was that? The thought made me slightly uncomfortable, but I wasn't quite sure why. Was it because a normal person's eyes didn't have gold pupils? And a normal person's eyes didn't flash like a lantern every three seconds or so.

I pushed aside my discomfort. It was inexplicable, as well as irrational, and therefore, it would be crippling to allow myself to be bothered by it.

I had been taught by my grandmother to always keep a firm hold on my emotions. "An explosive temper is never becoming in a woman," she had admonished me once, after I kicked at my nanny. I forgot what it was I had been angry about.

Ironically, this came from the woman who shot her husband in the butt with a BB-gun after he was ten minutes late for dinner. Of course, she never lost her temper again, and, as she explained it, "It was our anniversary dinner! How can you be late for your anniversary dinner?"

I kept my emotions under a tight lid. My mother said it was unnatural, how rarely I simply let an emotion just take control of me, and overwhelm me. I couldn't understand why she didn't see that showing your emotions made you vulnerable.

My ex-boyfriend back in Florida had said I was a coldhearted, calculating you-know-what, after I dumped him. That had bothered me for a long time. I wasn't coldhearted…was I? And what exactly was wrong with being calculating? Calculating minimized risk.

Shi Yun shook me again. "You're zoning out again," she informed me, her eyebrows furrowed. I smiled apologetically and focused on our project. What were we doing again? I looked at Shi Yun questioningly. "Write a conversation between remote and a television," she supplied.

I smiled. "Can I be the television?" I pleaded. Shi Yun smiled like a parent indulging a little kid.

"Sure," she replied. She wrote something on the notebook in front of her. I stared in fascination at her elegant script. My own writing was nearly as pretty, but not quite.

Turn to channel 30.

I smiled. This was going to be so cool! Why hadn't my school in Florida ever had assignments like this?

_No. I'm sick of you telling me what to do! Turn to this channel, turn to that channel. You want channel 30 so bad, YOU turn to it._

Shi Yun looked at what I had written and laughed out loud. "A sensitive television? A television with a will of its own? What going to happen next, it won't turn on until it wants to?"

I smiled back.

We continued writing our dialogue back and forth. We finished fifteen minutes before everyone else. I walked up to the desk and presented the sheet of paper to Ms. Gallagher, who smiled at me. "I'm sure that I will have a great time in your class and learn a great deal," I said sincerely. If she kept assigning us stuff like this, she might even beat out y favorite elementary school teacher back in Florida.

Class ended, and with it, school. Kids poured into the hallways, laughing and yelling and screaming. I struggled to make my way to my locker. Finally, I made it. I shoved a few books into my locker, slammed the door shut, whirled around, and barged directly into Christopher Winthorpe.

He caught me before I fell over and set me firmly on my feet. "Careful there," he said, his voice amused. I flushed and looked away.

"Thanks," I muttered. I swiftly slid out of his grip. I had never been very comfortable with people touching me. Apparently, this was something that I was going to have to get used to if I was going to hang out with Alana and her buddies.

Christopher smiled at me, and I was distracted enough to almost walk directly into the wall. Who knew a smile could be so…well…_gorgeous_?

I took a deep breath and told myself to focus. School was not about boys. It was about education. No stupid crushes. No boy ogling. Just schoolwork.

"I didn't get a chance to properly introduce myself," he said to me, frowning slightly. I cringed at the memory of my impolite behavior.

"Sorry about earlier," I said contritely. "I was stressed out." That wasn't a lie. There was no lie in those words. At least that's what I told myself. I knew that it wasn't true. I knew that Christopher would think that I had been rude to him because I was stressed, and not for a completely different…

"Really? Because Giana said that it was maybe because she and I looked like a couple. Which is a really odd thing to think about. I mean, we're like siblings."

I felt my cheeks warm. So he knew that I hadn't just been preoccupied. He knew that I had been offended, and that I had jumped to conclusions.

I shrugged lightly. "Yeah, you did look kind of couple-y. But, anyway, I'm really sorry." I stopped speaking. Would he pick up the dismissal? I was dying of mortification right now, and I would hate to traumatize him by letting him see me drop dead onto the floor.

Christopher nodded absently. We stood in awkward silence for a moment before I remembered that I had to go. "Crap!" I moaned. He looked at me curiously as I smacked myself on the forehead. "I have to go meet Mr. Fowlson. Thanks for that tip about him, by the way. I was practically shaking in my boots."

Christopher smiled at me again, and I felt my knees go all wobbly. No. I could not let this happen. Control. I needed control.

After two milliseconds, I found the control I was looking for. Wiping my face clean of any emotion besides polite interest, I offered Christopher a small, meaningless smiled and held out my hand. "It was very nice to meet you, Christopher," I said blandly.

He looked slightly confused. Apparently, my mood swing had not been as unobtrusive as I had hoped. I made my smile wider, trying to compensate.

Christopher sighed, a small exhalation of air, and then said, in his absolutely wonderful British accent, "Won't you please call me Chris, Miss Brightstar?"

I gave a startled laugh. I had never been called Miss Brightstar before. It was kind of cool. "Only if you promise to call me Ashleigh," I bargained, my smile more genuine this time.

"I can do that for you," he said, his eyes laughing.

"I'd better run along," I said, slightly breathlessly. I felt a little dizzy.

I walked away from Chris quickly. What was wrong with me? I always kept my emotions tightly reined in. But now this boy I barely even knew was turning me upside down and inside out.

I had a sinking feeling in my heart that this was not good. Not good at all.

Shi Yun

As I walked towards Alana's red Crossfire, I absently hummed the Darth Vader theme song in my head. There were gorgeous gray clouds masking the sky overhead, and an insistent wind blew my hair in black strands across my face. The smell of the ocean flooded my nostrils, and a seagull screamed overhead.

I saw Alana's golden head bobbing up and down to an invisible beat as she listened to some song on her MP3-player. I quickly crossed the parking lot, still humming that stupid Darth Vader song.

Alana beamed at me in her rearview mirror as I slid into the backseat of her car. I caressed the suede seats, like I always did when I sat in her car. They were so _soft_.

"So, how was your day?" Alana said, her voice loud. I winced slightly. Seeing my grimace, she gave me an apologetic smile and took her earbuds out.

"Sorry," she said, still smiling. I felt vaguely uneasy about her mischievous grin. It looked like she knew something. I wasn't sure _what_ she knew, but from the look she was giving me, I had an idea. Alana always knew about that kind of stuff.

"I'm assuming you heard about Mr. Daly assigning Connor O'Henry to be my lab partner," I said nonchalantly, pulling a notebook out of my shoulder bag. I began sketching a portrait of Alana's face as I anxiously waited for her reply.

"Are you kidding?" she answered, barely moving her lips. She knew I would get pissed if she made me mess up my drawing. "Like Melissa Lykner was going to keep that to herself. Especially since you _blushed_ when he walked over to you."

Of course. I had forgotten that Melissa Lykner had a bigger mouth than a humpback whale.

Alana looked at me sympathetically. "Sweetie, why didn't you tell me you had a crush on the guy? I mean, he's beyond gorgeous, and he's very sweet."

I concentrated on my portrait and I didn't answer for a long time. Finally, keeping my voice low, I replied, "Because Eva didn't want me to."

Alana didn't look surprised. "Well, I'm working on that right now. For goodness' sake, I've been working on it for weeks! But this isn't about Eva; this is about you. How much do you like Connor?"

Keeping my eyes down, I whispered, "A lot." I wouldn't say anymore. What else could I say? That every time I saw him, I felt so joyous it seemed like birds should be singing madly? That his smile made me melt? That when his eyes shifter from amber to hazel to green, I was mesmerized?

I couldn't say all that. I had never been one to express my feelings in words. Of course I did have a countless number of drawings of him in my notebook…

Alana looked exasperated. "How much is a lot?" she pressed, her voice impatient, and slightly frantic. Silently, I flipped to the first picture I had drawn of Connor. It was a simple side profile, but it was on of my favorites.

I handed it to Alana, and then stuck my head out the window to gaze at the ocean. Waves pounded angrily against the salt-crusted gray rocks. The cool wind still blew strongly against my face, making me screw up my eyes against the cold. I saw, in the distance, a geyser of water shoot up in the ocean, and knew that a whale was passing through the bay.

I felt Alana's eyes on me, but I ignored her, and kept my face in the wind, eyes closed.

After about two minutes, I withdrew my head and closed the window. I saw Giana walking towards the car, her tiny form struggling to pull on her heavy backpack and fight against the fierce wind at the same time. I felt a grin spread across my face at the sight of her irritated expression.

Giana finally reached the car, and dropped into the seat next to me, breathing heavily. She glared at me ferociously until the smile faded from my face. What was _her_ problem?

She turned her angry eyes to Alana, who raised an eyebrow curiously. "Is there something you want to share with us?" Giana said, her voice tight with controlled anger.

It was kind of funny to see Giana angry. Like watching a kitten trying to be a tiger. She crossed her arms and glared at Alana.

Alana simply raised her eyebrow even higher, her expression calm.

Giana blew out a sigh, ruffling her bangs. I noticed that her golden circlet was slightly askew, and fought to keep the giggles from escaping.

"Why didn't you let us know that Ashleigh was sitting with Bunny at lunch tomorrow?" Giana demanded, her teeth bared. I saw that her canines had elongated slightly, but it only registered slightly. The rest of my attention was on what she had said.

I turned my wide eyes to Alana, disbelieving. "_What_?!" I exploded, shocked.

Alana didn't look so calm anymore. Her eyes had narrowed slightly, and she glared out the window. "I forgot," she muttered.

Giana threw her hands into the air. "Oh, _that_ explains everything! Since when do you forget things? And how could you forget something important like _that_?"

Alana whirled around, and put her face so close to Giana's, it looked like she was about to kiss her. "Don't you judge me!" she snarled, her eyes almost slits. "You have _no idea_ what I've done to keep you, and the rest of us safe."

I flinched back from the pure anger in Alana's voice.

Giana stayed where she was, her eyes wide with fright. After a moment however, her anger returned. "Well then, why don't you tell us?" Giana yelled. Her canines had grown even longer, and now they jutted past her bottom lip. "You're always keeping secrets, and you find out things you were never meant to know! I wanna know how you learn everything! So instead of trying to make me feel guilty about everything you do, why don't you _tell_ us? Because if you don't, I swear on my life, I'll find out for myself. You know how good I am at slithering around."

Giana paused for breath, and suddenly all the anger rained from her body. "I just don't want us to lose," she said, her voice filled with tears. I rubbed her back comfortingly.

Alana had frozen in place after Giana made her threat; even her breathing had stopped. She sighed. "I'll tell you when we have tea at my house this afternoon, okay? When everyone else is with us."

Her voice sounded strange. It had lost its normal confident ring, and sounded almost…resigned.

What was she talking about?


	2. Chapter 2

46

Ashleigh

The buzzer rang for the end of period, and I sighed with relief. However, a strange mixture of frustration and dread coiled in my stomach. Lunch. To be honest, I didn't really want to go to the cafeteria. I had enough eyes staring at me in my classes; going to the caf meant just that much more.

As I stood up from my desk, a petite girl with white blonde hair and the prettiest aqua eyes I'd ever seen bounced up to me. She was wearing a jean miniskirt and a white spaghetti-strap shirt. She smiled at me, and I noted that her teeth were extraordinarily white.

"Hey, you're Ashleigh Brightstar, right?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. I fought the urge the roll my eyes. As if _everyone_ didn't know who I was. But at least she was attempting to make conversation, instead of staring at me wordlessly.

"Yeah, that's me," I replied. I smiled back at her. "I'm afraid I don't know your name though. Sorry. New school and everything." The girl nodded solemnly.

Looking down, I saw that her feet were tapping to an invisible beat. I also saw that she had a tattoo of a small, ruby-scaled dragon curling around her ankle. Did this girl ever stop moving?

"Yeah, I _totally_ understand. I felt exactly the same when I transferred here two years ago." She blinked those wide eyes at me in sympathy, and held out her hand. "I'm Bunny," she said seriously.

Oh, you have got to be kidding me. "Bunny?" I repeated with difficulty, struggling to hold back laughter. What kind of parents would name their kid _Bunny_? That would most definitely count as torture.

"Yeah. Bunny." Those gorgeous eyes of hers hardened, and her mouth twisted slightly. Whoa. Note to self: Do not make fun of Bunny's name.

She had regained her composure and was again smiling. "So, do you wanna come sit with me and my friends at lunch? That way, no one will bother you. I know it must be hard for you, what with everyone staring and whispering behind their hands."

I very nearly agreed, but something stopped me. I felt pretty sure that sitting with Bunny and her friends would lock me in with them. I would always be a part of that group if I chose to sit with them today. And I wasn't quite sure that I wanted to identify myself just yet.

But how to say this to her? From her reaction when I nearly laughed at her name, Bunny was an extremely temperamental person, and I was absolutely positive that I didn't want to get on her bad side.

"Well, I'd like to," I hedged, scrambling to find a response. I could see the flames burning in the depths of her eyes, and I knew that if I didn't figure out an excuse soon, I was going to be in big trouble. Suddenly, I felt a warm arm around me.

"She'd like to, but she's sitting with me," drawled a warm voice, with the slightest of British accents. I turned around to see a girl with golden blonde hair and bright green eyes staring intently at Bunny.

"Yeah," I echoed weakly. "I'm sitting with…" I looked at the girl again, realizing that I had forgotten her name. Bunny was glaring daggers at the girl, and the girl was glaring right back.

"Alana Winthorpe," the girl supplied. She smiled smugly at Bunny, who had red flags in her cheeks. I realized belatedly that saying that I was going to be sitting with this Alana person hadn't exactly kept me in Bunny's good graces.

I was trying to be diplomatic about this, and keep everyone happy. "How about I sit with you like…tomorrow?" I offered, crossing my toes for luck. I hoped to high heaven that this would placate Bunny.

Bunny sighed, and bit her lip. "Yeah, tomorrow's good," she replied. She shot a death glare at Alana, and waved to me. "Bye Lana," she said sweetly. "Bye Ashleigh. See ya tomorrow." She practically skipped out the door. I was tired just from watching her!

Alana chuckled under her breath. "Bingo," she murmured. I turned around to look at her. _Bingo_? Like getting to eat lunch with me was some kind of conquest? I had understood from the first that Bunny and Alana were enemies, maybe even archenemies. But couldn't Alana at least have a little tact?

However, I couldn't feel too mad at her, because she'd just rescued me. "Thanks," I stated. Alana shrugged, examining her nails.

While she wasn't looking at me, I could stare at her without being embarrassed. Bunny was pretty, very pretty, but Alana was easily the most beautiful, elegant girl I'd ever seen. Her wavy hair was coiled around her head in a pretty, elegant coronet style, totally unsuited for school, but just right for her. Her skin was flawless, not a single zit anywhere that I could see. Her lips were ruby red, which gave warmth to her milk-white skin.

Her eyes were a brilliant emerald green, and shaded by the longest lashes I'd ever seen. They literally brushed her cheekbones when she blinked.

She was slender, but not too slender. She had on a sunset colored silk shift, and a white short-sleeved jacket. Her nails were painted a pretty gold-orange-pink nail polish. Gold wedge heels completed the outfit.

Now I had one question. How did she wear those heels, and still sneak up on me silently? If it were me, I'd be tripping and clunking all over the place. One of the many reasons I never wore heels.

Finally, Alana looked up from the inspection of her nails. "So, are we going to lunch or not?" I blinked at her, feeling like an idiot. I had just noticed something strange about her skin, but I couldn't remember what it was.

"Um…you can go if you want," I replied, feeling confused. What was it that I had noticed about her skin?

Alana, finally put down her hand, and crossed her arms, glaring at me. "I said you were going to eat lunch with me. Don't turn me into a liar."

I frowned. "There was a reason I didn't want to sit with Bunny," I pointed out peevishly. Who was she to tell me what to do?

She snorted. "Yeah, because she's an evil, manipulative cow. Wait, I'm sorry. That wasn't fair to cows."

I blinked again, in astonishment. Wow. I'd had no idea that the enmity was rooted that deeply. But I still had to correct her.

"Er…no," I contradicted. "Because I don't want to identify myself with one group before I get to know everybody. It's too early for me to be classified yet." Alana rolled her eyes at my statement.

" A noble sentiment, I'm sure. Here's my advice. Stay away from Bunny and her friends and sycophants, and hang out with the people who don't like her. Which includes my crew and I. So let's go."

I stomped my foot. "No! I don't want to be stuck in your group after one day of school!" I snapped. Alana just shrugged, and pulled me along behind her.

I finally yanked my hand out of hers, once we got out of the classroom and into the hallway. I didn't want to seem like a little kid who doesn't want to go to school. And to be honest, I didn't really mind eating lunch with Alana. No one would be able to resist sitting with a queen.

As we entered the cafeteria, and the hundreds of pairs of eyes in the school all swiveled toward me, I finally remembered what I had noticed about Alana's skin.

It glowed.

Alana

I'd been around my friends—Shi Yun, Zelda, Helen, Giana, and Eva—for so long, that they seemed normal to me. In fact, in my mind, they were the most beautiful girls in the world. But Ashleigh Brightstar seemed a bit astonished when she first saw them.

Not that she wasn't something to look at herself. She totally was. A number of hearts were going to be broken at this school before she graduated.

Ashleigh Brightstar had auburn curls cascading past her shoulders, and lively honey brown eyes. She had pale skin, and exactly three golden freckles resided on her nose.

She had a nice figure, one you could tell came from genes, not a diet. She wore a caramel colored, short-sleeved, button down, collared shirt, and a gold necklace set with diamonds and a tiger's eye.

Her skirt was brown and gold plaid, and she wore gold ballet flats. On her wrist, I saw a—what else—gold bracelet with exquisite citrines hanging from it.

Ashleigh's hands were perfectly French manicured, and I saw a piece of jewelry that didn't go with the rest of her outfit. It was a silver ring on her right ring finger, set with a beautiful, tiny opal.

From what I could see, Ashleigh was a very neat, orderly person, and I was a bit worried about how she would react to my friends.

To my surprise, after her initial shock, Ashleigh was extremely comfortable with my friends. To my even greater amazement, the one she seemed to like the most was Zelda.

Zelda was average height, with bubblegum pink hair that had lime green streaks, cut into a pixie cut. Her eyes were electric blue, which created a stark contrast against her peach skin. She wore a black miniskirt, fishnet stockings, and a green shirt with a silver skull on it. The green of the shirt matched the green in her hair. Most days, she wore a slight variation of this outfit.

Zelda tended to laugh often and loudly. She wasn't traditionally pretty, but something in her fun and silly character made her seem cute.

Giana fancied herself an Egyptian queen. She did look like one, but sometimes her airs were annoying. She had glossy, jet black hair, which fell down to her shoulders. It hung straight against her face, except for the last few inches, which were braided.

Her skin was golden brown, and her eyes were very dark brown, almost black. She wore a gold headdress like Cleopatra, and wore a thin white dress with a golden silk sash, and leather sandals. Gold bangles decorated her arms from her wrists to her elbows.

Helen was unconventional, but very pretty. She looked almost exactly like Rogue from the _X-men_ movie. She even had a Southern accent, although I had long suspected that it was a carefully imitated one. However, she'd had it for so long, I thought that she had maybe forgotten that she was from Nebraska. But then again, her mother was from South Carolina, so the accent might just be real. One could never be sure about such things.

Helen enjoyed the fact that people often mistook her for the actress Anna Paquin in _X-men_. In fact, she often encouraged it. She always wore gloves, and she wore a dog tag necklace. She had even persuaded her mom to allow her to put a few white streaks in her brown hair. She got a laugh out of making people flinch when she reached for them.

Shi Yun was Japanese-American. I hated classifying people like that—did it matter? —but that was the only explanation for her stunning almond shaped brown eyes, glossy, raven black hair, and golden skin. Shi Yun was slim, but she still had curves. Even today, when it was about 97 degrees, she always looked cool as a cucumber. She rarely spoke, unlike Helen, Giana, and Zelda, but when she did, she was hilarious. She had a dry sense of humor that very nearly matched my own.

Even though people often thought, when they first met my friends, that Zelda was the strangest, they often got used to her within a few minutes. It was Eva that people never got used to.

Eva had wavy maroon hair with golden streaks, and pale skin. Her eyes were cinnamon-colored, which was strange in itself, but strangest of all were her pupils. They were pure gold, and seemed to emit light every few seconds.

Eva was easily the most beautiful of our group. She always wore her hair down, and when she was shy, she hid behind a cranberry-colored curtain. She was tall and slender, and had a silvery tinkle of a laugh that sounded like tiny bells.

Eva was the only one of our group who was a straight-A student. The rest of us did pretty well, but Eva was a model student. Teachers loved her, and even the students couldn't bring themselves to hate her, because she didn't brag about her good grades, and she was willing to help anyone who asked.

Ashleigh loved my friends, and Eva, Zelda, Giana, and Helen seemed to share the feeling. Shi Yun was more reserved, waiting to see how Ashleigh turned out. We all knew exactly what depended on Ashleigh, and Shi Yun was cautious about giving out her affections until she was absolutely sure of a person.

Even though part of me felt that Shi Yun was right, a larger part of me was absolutely positive that Ashleigh was everything that we had hoped for. We had to wait and see.

Bunny

I was absolutely livid that Alana had gotten to Ashleigh Brightstar before I did. She had probably told Ashleigh all sorts of nasty things about me. I could see her now, sitting with Alana and her band of freaks.

Alicia Silverstone slid back a chair and dropped down next to me. "Why the frown, Bunny?" she asked, helping herself to one of my potato chips. I pushed the bag over to her, and bit off exactly one-fourth of a baby carrot. I pointed towards Alana, Ashleigh, and the rest of them.

Alicia looked over at them and grimaced for a second. "How'd that happen? I thought you were going to invite her over to eat with us." I gritted my teeth as I patiently explained how Ashleigh had postponed lunch until tomorrow.

Alicia looked aghast. "She _refused_? Why? You don't think Alana was mind-suggesting to her, do you?" She nabbed another one of my potato chips and chewed noisily.

I bit off another fourth of my carrot and chewed as I thought. Finally, I swallowed and replied, "No. Ashleigh had already decided to sit on her own by the time Alana got to her."

I cast another glance at Alana's table. Ashleigh and Zelda were laughing hysterically. Suddenly, Alana looked over at me and smirked. I glared at her, but she simply turned away and started talking to Helen.

Suddenly, Alicia started humming. I smiled maliciously and bit off another fourth of carrot. Keeping my eyes on Alana, I greeted Blair as she sat down on my left side. "Hey," I murmured. Blair replied in kind, and fixed her eyes on Alana as well.

It didn't take long for Alana to start wincing and rubbing at her temples. She glared at Alicia, who smiled sweetly and continued humming. Alana screwed her face up in pain.

Abruptly, I turned to Alicia. "Pull back," I ordered. Alicia looked at me in disbelief. She opened her mouth to protest, but before she could utter a sound, her hands went to her head.

I looked over at Alana's table to see Eva narrowing her falcon eyes in our direction. I swiftly brought my eyes back to Alicia to see her eyes rolling back into her head. She was making strange whimpering noises in the back of her throat.

There was only one way to stop this from happening, and it was so humiliating I didn't even want to consider it. But another look at Alicia told me that it wouldn't be long before she started screaming.

Glaring at Alana, I bowed my head in surrender. Alana smirked, and placed a hand on Eva's arm. Eva blinked, and Alicia stopped whimpering. Her eyes opened and she slowly put her shaking hands onto the table. She did not look at me as she said, "I'm sorry, Bunny."

I smiled at her benevolently. "I don't blame you. You're only a dove. A lethal dove, it's true, but Eva's a full-blooded falcon. But don't worry. Once we get Ashleigh Brightstar on our side, you can torture Alana and her friends as much as you want."

Alicia grinned evilly, and I could tell that she was looking forward to that day even more than I was.

Two hands covered my eyes. "Guess who!" a sweet voice exclaimed. I bit my lip to stifle a laugh.

"Hey, Jubilee," I remarked. Jubilee removed her hands from my face and skipped over to the chair across from me, her lower lip poking out. She was obviously put out that I had ruined her little game so quickly.

Jubilee had long, dark blue hair, pale skin, bright sea green eyes, and a slim, petite figure. People thought I was bouncy, but that was always before they met Jubilee.

"Where's Monique?" I asked, inquiring about her identical twin sister. Jubilee shrugged, snapping open her bottle of apple juice. I sighed with exasperation.

Alicia lifted a single ebony eyebrow at Jubilee, who grimaced, and answered my question. "She's on her way. She had to run to the car to get her English homework." Jubilee stuck her tongue out at Alicia, and took a demure sip from her juice.

Alicia tossed back her raven hair, and reached behind me to poke Blair on the shoulder.

Blair jumped, and she accidentally knocked over her rice pudding. The nasty stuff that Blair enjoyed so much oozed over the table.

Jubilee stuck her finger in the mess and sucked on it. "You know, Bunny, I don't see why you don't like rice pudding. It tastes pretty good to me."

Alicia snickered as Blair swore and ripped napkin after napkin out of the dispenser. Blair silenced her with a glance from her black eyes. After Blair cleaned up the mess, she yanked Alicia up from her chair, and stood facing her, her arms crossed over her chest.

Alicia smiled smugly—until Blair's hand wrapped around her throat. "Listen to me, little birdie," Blair hissed. "I've got a Trigonometry exam to study for, and I don't want any distractions. You mess with me one more time, and we'll see how well the birdie flies when her feathers are ripped out."

Alicia rolled her bright brown eyes, but I read the fear in her face, and I could see her struggling to contain her power. Whenever she felt very strong emotions, her power went haywire.

Deciding it was time for me to step in, I made my voice go cold as I said, "Blair, get your hands off of her." Blair complied without arguing. However, I decided that I had to make it clear exactly who was in charge around here.

I was just about to go off on her when I noticed that Ashleigh Brightstar was looking over at our table curiously. I smiled brightly at her, and she smiled right back.

Zelda, who had been talking to her, glanced up at me and rolled her eyes. I made a fish face at her, sucking in my cheeks. She flushed bright red, and ducked her head.

Alicia sat down at my side and began talking like nothing had happened between her and Blair. "It seems like we're in luck. Shi Yun doesn't trust Ashleigh yet. We can use that."

I smiled in delight. "If Shi Yun doesn't trust her, then that means that Alana is going to have some doubts about her too."

The thought made me ecstatic. Stealing Ashleigh Brightstar away from Alana and her group was going to be easy as pie.

Zelda

Talking to Ashleigh was fun. She could be so serious, and yet be saying something completely ridiculous. From what I had learned, her parents were still happily married; she had an older brother in college, and a married older sister.

When she asked about my hair, I told her that I had done it on a dare a while ago, and had liked it so much that I just kept it that way.

I glanced over at the football team's table to see Chris Wegner looking at Eva longingly, as usual. Eva noticed him too, and her eyes were sad.

She'd broken up with Chris last semester when she'd thought she was going to die. When she stayed alive, barely, she'd been too afraid to ask him to go out with her again, despite the fact that he so obviously wanted to.

The warning bell rang for the beginning of fourth period. Ashleigh stood up right away. She fumbled around in her bag for a little while before she found her schedule. "I've got Spanish next," she told me, looking hopeful.

Ruefully, I shook my head. "Helen's got Spanish next period, though." Helen nodded and smiled at Ashleigh, and held out her hand. We all expected Ashleigh to flinch back automatically, but she just grasped Helen's hand with her hand and helped her up.

"Great," Ashleigh said brightly. "Would you be willing to be my escort?"

Helen laughed and agreed. I watched them, a little jealously, as they walked to Ms. Santita's room.

Turning to Alana, Giana, Eva, and Shi Yun, I commented, "Well, I think that went well. She didn't run away screaming, and she didn't seem afraid of Helen." Shi Yun snorted.

"Zelda, you are _so_ naïve if you judge people's character on whether or not they're afraid of Helen. Maybe she's never seen the X-Men movies."

I frowned at her. "That's not even possible. And not everyone is as paranoid as you are, Shi Yun. Excuse me for not being afraid of my own shadow."

Shi Yun stared at me calmly, but her cheeks had turned very red. "First of all, it is entirely plausible that she has never seen the X-Men movies. Not everyone is as obsessed with the X-Men as you and Helen. And second of all, I'm cautious, not paranoid. Maybe if you were a bit more _cautious_, Jubilee and Monotone would be on our side instead of Bunny's. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to Home Ec."

She whipped around and strode to the cafeteria doors, giving me the pinkie the entire way. I jumped out of my seat and ran after her.

Grabbing her arm, I dragged her into the girls' bathroom. After I checked all the stalls to make sure no one was listening, I turned to her, my arms folded across my chest.

"First of all, you _know_ Jubilee and Monotone weren't my fault. I can only sense people's real feelings when I'm in the water, and I'm in my second form. How was I supposed to know that they thought we were weird and too intense? You _know_ why I couldn't tell that. So don't throw that back in my face. Don't you think I feel awful enough that Bunny has two incredibly strong allies on her side?

"Second of all," I continued more gently, "I know that you're being especially cautious, after what happened to Kira, but Helen took Ashleigh's hand, remember? She would have told us if there were any malicious thoughts in Ashleigh's pretty little head. The only reason Helen couldn't help us with Jubilee and Monotone is that she broke her pinkie and her powers went bananas, remember? She had to stay in her room.

"But Helen can help us now. And she obviously hasn't sensed anything out of place about Ashleigh, so don't get your panties in a wad."

Shi Yun rolled her eyes, and stalked past me out of the bathroom. "Yeah, sure, Zelda. Thanks for that little pep talk. But I won't trust Ashleigh Brightstar until she's proven herself. And you've made me late for class. Not everyone has the luck of having study hall right after lunch."

I gasped. "Oh, crap!" I exclaimed. I zipped past a bewildered Shi Yun and sprinted to my locker. I fumbled with the lock for a few seconds until finally I just spoke two words. The lock fell open in my hand, and my locker door swung open. I grabbed my swimsuit, and ran to the girls' locker room in the swimming pool area.

Coach Leslie was there, and she did not look happy. "You're late, Schlepper." I apologized profusely as I changed as quickly as possible.

I ran out to the pool and did a swan dive. I stayed under for a little while, allowing all of my thoughts and half-thoughts to disperse into the water.

I came up and looked into Coach Leslie's face.

Even though I figured that Coach Leslie was around forty-three years old, she still looked really young. All the physical training she did, I guessed. Her hair was dark brown, with hints of red whenever the sun hit her just right. Her eyes were beautiful, the exact color of milk chocolate, and framed by long lashes. Her skin was tan and fresh-looking, not weathered or wrinkled at all.

Coach Leslie had long, muscular legs that came from running, and strong, muscular arms that came from swimming and endless amounts of push-ups.

"Let's see how long it takes you to do ten laps back and forth across the pool," she said, disguising a command as a suggestion.

I obeyed and set myself free in the water. I reminded myself that I had to pretend to come up for air like a normal person, so I lifted my head every thirty-five seconds.

I finished my laps, and looked at Coach Leslie. Her mouth had fallen open, and her whistle lay limply against her chest. Her clipboard lay on the ground, paper side down.

I frowned at myself. Maybe I'd let myself go a little too fast. "Did I make the team?" I pretended to ask timidly. I already knew the answer.

"You're kidding me, right?" Coach Leslie replied, slowly regaining her composure. "Practice is at six a.m. every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday morning."

I smiled as I got out of the pool. I couldn't wait to tell Alana.

Ashleigh

I really enjoyed eating lunch with Alana and her friends, actually a bit more than I thought I would. From the first I had seen that Alana, Giana, Helen, Zelda, Shi Yun, and Eva were all best friends (not an easy feat, I can tell you!) and I had thought it would be awkward to intrude on their friendship.

To my surprise, they were all incredibly nice and didn't make me feel like an outsider at all.

I liked Zelda the most. She was definitely different, with her bright pink pixie cut, and even more bouncy than Bunny. She was like the Energizer Bunny (no pun intended). She just kept going and going…

Giana was hilarious, with her obviously fake attempt at a British accent in an effort to sound foreign. She really did look like an Egyptian queen, but when her ersatz accent faltered, she sounded more like she was from New York than from Alexandria.

Helen was also someone who amused me. She looked like that actress (What was her name again? I couldn't remember) in _X-men_, who played Rogue. She had the accent, the dog tags, the gloves, everything. She had well mastered the art of sarcasm, just like I had.

Eva was one I wasn't sure about my feelings for. She was just as nice and inviting as the others had been, but she seemed to be in another world half the time. Her eyes were beautiful and captivating, but extremely unnerving, as were the gold streaks in her hair that so closely resembled small golden feathers.

Eva's English had seemed to be normal, no accent whatsoever, until her phone vibrated in her pocket. When she looked at the caller ID, she rolled her eyes as she answered. "_Que?_" she inquired. I blinked as she chattered away in rapid Spanish for a minute. Alana had glared at her until Eva yammered one last sentence and hit the off button. "Sorry about that," she apologized to me. I smiled and nodded. I wasn't about to tell her I was fluent in Spanish, and was only taking it this year to have one easy subject.

I wasn't sure how I felt about Shi Yun, either. She wasn't as effusive as the others, her smile not as wide, her eyes not as genuinely delighted as the others' had been. Something about her suggested that she mistrusted me, for whatever reason.

I was very disappointed to find out that Zelda did not have Spanish (she took French), but Helen was the next best choice. I watched everyone smile a little as she stretched her hand toward me. They had all expected me to flinch, apparently. Just to gall them, I had grasped her hand without batting an eyelash.

On the way to Spanish, I couldn't help but recall the conversation that Eva hadn't known that I understood.

"_I don't know what her second form is yet,_" Eva had said._ "I just met her, for goodness' sake. But my guess is a dragon, or maybe a wyvern. I'm not sure, but those are my best guesses. Whatever she is, she's extraordinarily powerful. I can't get through her mental block even when I use all my strength._" Eva had paused, listened for a moment and then hissed, "_Not until Halloween, you pig head! And no you can't meet her. You're not going to screw this up for us, you understand? You won't see her or talk to her until we discover what she is, and she's learned to control her powers._" She had paused, listened a while more, and smiled. "_I love you too, Bapi._"

Now that I thought about it, a lot was wrong with that conversation. Second form? Dragon? Wyvern? Mental block?

"You okay?" It was Helen's voice that brought me back from my reverie. We were sitting in Spanish class, waiting on the teacher. All the guys were goofing off, throwing spitballs and whatnot, while the girls filed their nails and texted on their phones.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied. Helen nodded, and went back to doodling on her notebook while I thought.

Ms. Santita finally walked in. She placed a large folder on her desk, and turned to write on the blackboard. "Hola, mi estudiantes," she greeted. Half the class stared at her blankly, while the other half, including Helen and I, chorused, "Hola, maestra."

Ms. Santita tsked. "Ay, no, that will not do. Now, when I say, 'Hola, mi estudiantes,' you must reply, 'Hola, maestra.' Now, let us try again." This time we greeted her properly, and she was satisfied.

"Muy bien, mi estudiantes! Ah," she said, her eyes lighting on me. I shrank back in my seat. "I see we have a new student. Why don't you come up and tell us about yourself, mi muchacha." I watched everyone turn toward me. Some were snickering behind their hands, and others looked at me sympathetically.

I stood up and slowly walked to the front of the classroom, mortified.

When I reached the blackboard, Ms. Santita was looking at her attendance sheet. "You are Miss Ashleigh Brightar, si?" I nodded. Ms Santita raised her eyebrows at me, waiting.

I cleared my throat and replied, "Si, maestra." She nodded, and smiled. She asked me where I came from. "I transferred here from Florida." I crossed my fingers, hoping that this would satisfy her.

Not quite. "Miss Brightstar, why don't you tell the class your hobbies," she said. She paused, and smiled at me. "In Spanish."

I was even more horrified than ever. If I spoke the Spanish fluently, then not only would I make everyone in class hate me, but I might be transferred into Advanced Spanish. And if I didn't…I'd be completely humiliated.

I would just have to pretend to stumble over a few words. I began by saying I loved to write, sing, read, and ride my bike. Then I mentioned shopping and tanning, which made the other girls smile, except for one, with black hair, deathly pale skin, and creepy black eyes (no whites whatsoever!). She glared at me, her teeth bared in a snarl. I noticed with a shock that her canines were definitely longer than any normal person's.

My tongue stumbled over saying that I like playing football and street hockey, bringing out surprised laughter from a few of the guys.

Ms. Santita nodded at me, and I stumbled over to my desk. I was still staring in shock at the pale girl, who was smiling at me now, no trace of anger or hatred on her face.

Helen placed a steadying hand on my arm as I sat down, and immediately glanced over at the girl. The girl smiled maliciously at Helen, and Helen snarled under her breath. It sounded remarkably like a lion. Or some other large cat.

Everyone turned in our direction, except for Ms. Santita, who placidly continued to write on the blackboard. "Please put away your MP3 player, whoever that is, or I'll turn around and confiscate it."

A few people guiltily shoved something into their backpacks, including Helen. Only the pale girl still looked at us, plainly astonished.

Ms. Santita turned around and caught the girl looking at us instead of the blackboard. "Miss Blair, though you may believe that you're grades are good enough that you don't need to work, I know better. Please turn around."

I expected Blair to blush—that's what any normal girl would have done. But she didn't. She simply turned around. I could tell from the set of her jaw that she was either angry or humiliated. Possibly, and probably, both.

Helen's eyes looked panicky, and I couldn't understand why. I watched her throw a few frantic glances toward Blair, and I realized that Blair was the source of her fear. I couldn't figure out why.

Helen was texting on her cell phone madly with one hand, and writing down notes with the other. I, too, took notes. That is, I took notes until Zelda showed up at the door with a pass, claiming that she needed to take me to the office.

Helen looked relieved, and now she was using both of her hands to write her notes: one to hold the paper flat, and the other to swiftly jot down every word Ms. Santita spouted.

I walked out of the classroom, silently accepting the hall pass from Ms. Santita. Everyone in the room, except for Helen and Blair, was glaring at me sullenly.

Zelda smiled at me, and as soon as we were out of earshot, she said, "I only have about a half hour left, but what do you want to do?" I looked at her blankly, confused.

"I thought you said I had to go to the office for something," I replied in a puzzled voice. Zelda laughed quietly, which was unusual for her.

"Ashleigh, we were only trying to keep you from Blair. She's one of Bunny's cronies." I rolled my eyes. I could _not_ believe this.

"Look, don't you think you guys are taking this a bit too far?" I inquired, slightly irritated. "I like you guys, but who knows maybe I'll like Bunny and her friends when I sit with them at lunch tomorrow."

Zelda whirled around, grabbing me by the wrist and shoving me against a locker. "You're sitting with Bunny at lunch tomorrow?" she asked, looking frantic. There was the same panicky look in her eyes that Helen had had.

I looked at her in surprise. "Jeez, Zelda. What do you guys have against Bunny?"

Zelda frowned, and moved her hand. "Sorry about that," she said, as I rubbed my wrist. I shrugged. I was more interested in having my question answered.

Zelda looked as if she was about to say something, when her eyes darted to the right. "Oh, no," she breathed. "Quick, act like you're not feeling well."

I obeyed without hesitation, for I had seen Mr. Fowlson on the prowl too.

Mr. Fowlson was undeniably the most despised teacher at this school. And there was some pretty stiff competition, let me tell you.

I'm not saying that he wasn't a good teacher. He was a terrific teacher. I would probably learn more about History this school year than I ever had. But he had a tendency to be inflexible, and on occasion downright rude.

Fowlson had a stiff, gray brush of a moustache, and pearly white teeth. His eyes were a very nice shade of blue, and might even be considered attractive, but since he was usually looking at someone coldly and critically, no one noticed this.

He was tall and lean, with large hands, and even larger feet. He wore his iron gray hair cropped close to his head. From what I could see, he wasn't balding. Yet.

I put my hands to my head and started to complain in a loud voice to Zelda about my massive headache. "It just came on all of a sudden. Like, one minute I was in Spanish class talking to Ms. Santita, and the next minute it feels like someone's trying to shove a pickax through my head."

Zelda pretended to cover her mouth in horror, but I knew that she was actually hiding a smile. Maybe I was laying it on a little thick.

Mr. Fowlson approached us, his eyes carefully noting my agonized face, and the orange passes in our hands. He smiled a fake smile at me and said sardonically, "I couldn't help but hear about your affliction. I do hope that it's nothing that will keep you from coming to my office after school this afternoon."

I blinked, and tried to smile back at him. "I-I'm sure it won't be," I stammered. "I just need to pop a couple of aspirin, and I'll be fine." My smile seemed a bit like something I had pasted onto my face.

Mr. Fowlson nodded, and continued walking, apparently satisfied.

_I_ wasn't, however. I wanted to know two things: One, what did Alana and her friends have against Bunny? Did Bunny deal drugs? Date their brothers and then crush their brothers' hearts?

Two, why the heck did I have to go see Fowlson after school today? What did I do to deserve _that_?

Shi Yun

I was distracted when I walked into Home Ec, and I didn't notice that I had a partner until I accidentally hit her with my elbow. "Oh my gosh. I am so sorry. I'm a klutz," I explained, smiling at her apologetically. She just looked at me with no feeling on her face whatsoever.

"Gah!" I jumped back as I realized who she was. _Nice going, Shi Yun_, I thought to myself. I hadn't even noticed that Monique was my partner.

Her face was still perfectly blank, and she turned to the front of the room again. "Aren't you supposed to be in Algebra 2 right now?" I inquired, fighting to hide the tremor in my voice.

To my surprise, she snorted. I couldn't believe it. _Monique had shown emotion_! "What, do you have our schedules memorized or something?" she asked sarcastically. She knew the answer to that question.

"No," I lied. "Alana and Giana are in your class, remember?" It was true, but that wasn't how I knew her schedule. I knew it, and she knew it. Monique shrugged, and opened her notebook to scrawl something down.

Mr. Daly, a wizened little old man who used to be some television star chef, scurried into the room. "Sorry, sorry. I know how eager you all are to start class. So silly of me to be late." He smiled at me, and I smiled back.

Mr. Daly had tufts of white hair crowning his little head, and masses of wrinkles shrouded his face. His brown eyes, hidden behind his coke-bottle glasses, were bright and intelligent. He had a round red nose, and surprisingly quick hands, for such an old man.

I sincerely loved Mr. Daly. He was like the grandpa I'd never had. He was patient, and when he got excited (which was often) he started waving his hands around as he explained how he had made up so many delicious recipes. This was my third year of taking his class.

I looked to my left, and Monique was gone. Freaky how she'd done that. Then again, she was a very good mage. Luckily, I was a better one.

I sat through ten minutes of Mr. Daly lecturing two jerks who thought it would be hilarious to disrupt the class and set themselves on fire. The idiots didn't know that you had to have a password to open the fire extinguisher, and Mr. Daly had forgotten it. Melissa Lykner, who sat directly behind them, finally ended their yelling by pouring cold milk over their heads.

There they stood, those two dummies, dripping milk, and blinking bemusedly, and I felt something queer in my stomach when I realized that Connor O'Henry was one of them.

I'd had a crush on Connor for as long as I could remember—or at least since the beginning of this school year. Connor had long reddish-brown hair, amber eyes, and a very fine profile. Although these were bonuses, I wouldn't have minded if he had zits all over his body. Well, maybe I would have, but not much.

Connor was a very nice, funny guy. He made me laugh, which was rare for anyone, and he was a conservative. That alone qualified him in my book. He didn't believe in affirmative action, supported lower taxes and smaller government. I'd been raised with these principles, and it was very rare to find a person who even thought about them once.

Connor caught me looking at him, although I looked down as quickly as I could. I peeked up again to see him grinning sheepishly. I felt my heart turn over.

Mr. Daly finally remembered the password and opened the cabinet for the fire extinguisher. He turned around and stared at the dripping, wet boys standing in the middle of the room. He blinked, and put the fire extinguisher away.

"Well, what are you doing standing there?" he inquired peevishly. "Go back to your desk. But before you do that, please get Miss Lykner some more milk."

"We're soaking wet!" Tony Lynn protested, brushing his milk-soaked dirty blond hair out of his face. Mr. Daly shrugged, and Tony muttered something obscene under his breath.

Connor went to the refrigerator in the corner of the room and took out a pitcher of milk. He handed it to Tony, who slammed it onto Melissa's desk, still muttering. Their shoes squeaked as they walked back to their desks. The class tittered.

Mr. Daly continued on talking about how to make the perfect crème brulee. I fidgeted. I didn't like crème brulee, and I probably never would. The strangeness of the texture bothered me. Just like strawberries and pears.

I didn't have a partner today. I rarely did. I stuck out like a sore thumb, but who cared?

Mr. Daly looked at the empty seat next to me, and then at Connor and Tony goofing off. He got a strange look in his eye that made me cringe. "Mr. O'Henry, would you kindly be Shi Yun's partner for the day?"

I felt my face go very red. I wanted so badly to cover my face with my hands that I had to sit on them to keep myself from doing so. Connor bumped fists with Tony, shook his hair one last time, and made his way, grinning, towards me.

I edged my seat slightly farther away from the chair next to me, so his long legs would have more room to maneuver.

Suddenly, I heard Eva's voice in my head. _What are you all a-flutter about_? she inquired curiously. I thought of Connor for a brief second. _Oh,_ she thought sourly. She didn't say anything more. She didn't need to.

_Don't worry,_ I thought back to her. _I know you don't like him._

Eva's thoughts were gentler now. _You don't have to do that,_ she told me. I mentally shrugged, and we disconnected.

Connor was sitting right next to me. I could feel waves of his body heat, he was sitting so close. His leg banged into mine, and when I peered at him out of the corner of my eye, I saw him doing the same.

We both immediately looked again at Mr. Daly, embarrassed.

After class was over, and our crème brulee came out perfectly, Mr. Daly called us over to his desk. "You two will be partners from now on," he informed us. Connor didn't look unhappy.

I was, however. To be that close, and yet so far away, was going to be excruciating.

Eva

I felt awful about what Shi Yun was going through. To be honest, it wasn't that I didn't like Connor. I just didn't want Shi Yun to be with the guy she liked when I couldn't be with mine.

Selfish of me, I knew. And stupid, too. The only reason I couldn't be with the guy I liked was because I was a coward. But I also knew that what had happened to me might happen to anyone in our little group. Anyone we grew close to, besides each other, was a liability. I didn't want Shi Yun to be crushed like I had.

Although, as I examined her thoughts, unbeknownst to her, I realized that she was already crushed. And all because of me.

I groaned in self-disgust, before remembering that I was in Biology. The entire class, including Mrs. Spencer, looked at me. I felt myself blush, even as I smiled and waggled my fingers in a half-hearted attempt at a wave.

Some of the girls rolled their eyes, and a few giggled, but many of them glared at me in hostility. I scanned their thoughts quickly, and realized that they thought I was being a show-off and groaning because I already knew all this stuff. Oops.

"It's going to take me forever to finish my homework with this hard stuff we're doing," I lied quickly, pretending to be worried. "How am I going to find time to shop for a costume for the Halloween Dance?"

Now all of the girls were giggling, and the guys were the ones rolling their eyes. Whew. Mrs. Spencer glared at me from over her glasses. I had to smooth things over with her, without making the girls hate me again.

"Sorry, Mrs. Spencer. It's just really hard to juggle academics and my social life, what with everything else going on. You know, the stuff I told you about?" I planted thoughts of fighting parents and oblivious siblings, along with a few shots of me fighting with my friends, into her head.

I winked at everyone else, while Mrs. Spencer's eyes were unfocused. She put her hand over her heart, made due with another stern glare, and I was off the hook. I smiled. I loved being able to read minds.

My smile slid off my face quickly as I thought about the tearing down that Alana was likely to give me when she found out. Who knew how she would find out; she always seemed to simply _know_ everything that went on in the school.

I wondered idly how long it would take for her to find out about _this_ little escapade of mine.

Blair

I did my best to confuse that new girl Ashleigh Brightstar about me. If she had doubts about me, she would have doubts about Bunny.

When Alana had asked me if I would become a double agent, I immediately agreed.

I hated how Bunny talked down to me, like she was more powerful than I was. She wasn't. I was a hair quicker, a shade more skilled.

I'd clung to Bunny, first because it seemed like she actually wanted me around, and then later to spy on her for Alana.

Maybe it was weird for me to switch parties like that. But to be honest, no one trusted a vampire anyway. Might as well play the game as the name, I always said. Well, my game was a lot more deadly than most. One false move, and either Bunny and her friends would kill me, or Alana and her friends were going to.

I met up with Alana in the girls' bathroom during my study hall period. She tapped her perfectly manicured nails against the ceramic sink. I stared at the pulse in her wrist, and felt an overpowering sense of thirst.

I carefully averted my gaze, ignoring my burning throat.

"Well?" she snapped, finally ceasing her tapping. I glared at her, putting my hands on my hips. I knew that a lot of people found my pure black eyes creepy, and Alana was no exception. She looked down, and I smiled briefly.

"If I wanted to be talked to like that, I'd have stuck with Bunny," I bit out, trying to hold my breath so I couldn't catch her scent.

Alana seemed oblivious to my discomfort, just like Bunny was. Stupidheads. Honestly, why did I put myself through this crap?

But I knew the answer to my own question. For Maman. And Papa. And…I forced myself to think the last name. And Adrienne. My own little revenge that no one knew about.

"I think Ashleigh's frightened of me. But unfortunately, Helen was worried about her, and she and Zelda got her out of the room as fast as possible. Tell me again why you haven't told them about this?"

Alana sighed, and sagged against the wall. "Because they would think I was nuts. They'd think that I was losing my touch, and they'd get rid of me. And then they would all die. They _need_ me, Blair. I'm the one that does the planning, the thinking. The others, they're great thinkers, don't get me wrong. But they can't _improvise_. If something goes wrong with a plan, they panic. They need me there when that happens. I love them all too much to let them die. And if that means I have to keep secrets from them, then so be it."

I didn't let it show on my face, but I was shocked. I knew that Bunny had no such compulsion to keep her "friends" safe. I doubted whether she felt that deeply about anyone but herself. She kept her friends around because she was a power-hungry, selfish person, whose life would be incomplete if she wasn't bossing someone around.

Suddenly, I lifted my nose, and sniffed. Alana watched me curiously. "Get out of here!" I hissed at her. She looked at me blankly. "If you don't want your friends to find out about me, you need to leave through the back door _now_!"

She nodded, and ran to the back door. At the last moment, she turned around. "Thanks, Blair. Really." I nodded to her, and ran into a bathroom stall, locking the door.

A few blinks later, Shi Yun came in. My throat ripped into flames again as she splashed herself with water. For a moment, there was silence; then I heard a strange noise. A strange, hiccupping gasp…was Shi Yun _crying_?

The tears continued for a few minutes, before Shi Yun decided to pull herself together. She washed her face again, dried her hands, and walked out.

I released the breath I'd been holding, and left my stall. I picked up the paper towel Shi Yun had used, and what I saw in her memories nearly knocked me over. "_Oh_," I gasped.

Shi Yun was in love with Connor O'Henry. But she wasn't going to date him because Eva didn't want her to.

I was realizing something about these girls. Maybe they really did all hate Bunny and her friends. And it was certainly a rallying point. But something else bound these friends together. Something that had been absent from my life for a long time. The answer was simple, or maybe it was seriously complicated. It was love.

As I exited the bathroom, I wondered wryly what Bunny would think of a vampire who was considering taking up matchmaking.

Alana

I cornered Giana on her way to Precalculus. "Hey, Gi, you think you could scrounge up some gold glitter gel?" I asked innocently. Code words rocked.

Giana shrugged. "Thanks so much Gi," I squealed, hugging her tightly.

Suddenly, I heard Blair's voice in my head. _We need to talk_. I jumped instinctively.

I was confused. Hadn't we just talked?

_Yeah, but I found something out after you left._

Probably that Bunny was planning another fight in our usual place. Not a surprise.

_Stop guessing._ I rolled my eyes. Okay, so it wasn't a fight.

_No, it's not a freaking fight. Jeez. It's the fact that Shi Yun likes Connor O'Henry. _

Blink. What the heck? Since when? I racked my brains, and realized that I had caught her staring at him quite a lot. And she did turn pink whenever his name was mentioned, now that I thought about it. But I hadn't processed it. I mean, Shi Yun with a crush? It was so unlike her!

_Yeah, well, unlike her or not, she's hurting over this. Eva doesn't want her to date him. So Shi Yun is going to give him up. Problem is, he's her partner in Home Ec._

I blew out a breath. Oh, boy. I could definitely see how that could be a problem. I couldn't help but be annoyed, however. Didn't we have enough drama in our lives, without heartache added to the mix? Especially when Shi Yun was still so hurt about Kira.

_Maybe you could tell Eva to lay off of her or something. I just know that unless Eva either backs off and lets Shi Yun date him, or he turns over to the dark side, Shi Yun might end up doing something drastic._

Shi Yun? Do something drastic? Over a _boy_? Yeah, right.

_You're not listening to me. She was crying, okay? So if you want to win, you need to deal with it. _

Blair cut off abruptly.

I rubbed my temples with my fingertips. Good grief. What was I supposed to do about this? Eva would be upset if Shi Yun dated Connor. And Shi Yun would be upset if she didn't get to date Connor.

The only way, I decided, was to get Eva her boyfriend back, while at the same time getting Shi Yun with hers. This was going to be tough.

To make things worse, when I walked into study hall, I realized that I'd been gone for about twenty minutes. Mr. Smith (really original name) informed me that from now on, I would be accompanied to and from the restroom, to make sure I didn't take so long this time.

The person accompanying me? Chelsea Reubae. Teacher's pet. Red hair, bright green eyes, glasses, braces, asthma. No qualms whatsoever about tattling. She was going to be a pain in the butt.

Why me?

Giana

Sometimes I wondered if Alana was really a dumb blonde. I mean, why on earth would she make the words "gold glitter gel" into code for "speak to Eva"? And what exactly was I speaking to Eva about?

Actually, I already knew the answer to my question. I would be talking to her about Chris. I was _always_ talking to Eva about asking Chris out again. Honestly, I didn't think that she'd ever gather up enough courage to ask him out. It took her two months to break up with him in the first place!

While I was thinking, I bumped into Alana's brother, whose name was also Chris.

Christopher Winthorpe was really dreamy. If I hadn't thought of him as a brother, I would have had a crush on him. No one in their family was quite sure how, but he had long blue-black hair. His eyes were sea-green, and his skin was even paler than his sister's, almost translucent. Despite his looks, he sounded just like his sister: British.

"Hello, Chris," I smiled, giving him a quick hug.

"I hear you got a new girl," he commented, absently patting my head.

I stepped out from underneath his hand and glared at him. Okay so I was only four foot two. That didn't mean he had to treat me like a little kid. I crossed my arms and tapped my foot as I waited for his apology.

He grinned down at me from his gargantuan height of six foot four. "Touchy, touchy," he commented. I glared at him some more. "Sorry," he snickered, not sounding sorry at all. I figured that was probably the best I was going to get out of him.

"Yeah, we got a new girl. Her name is Ashleigh Brightstar, and she's a ten on all scales. You do know, however, that I find the scales demeaning, don't you?" I sighed dramatically. Chris had these scales from one to ten. Girls were rated on their personality, their looks, and their trustworthiness. It was stupid.

I saw Ashleigh walking down the hallway towards us, looking harassed. She had red flags in her cheeks, and her eyes were bright and curious. "Here she comes right now," I told Chris, pointing her out to him.

Chris sucked in a breath and didn't say anything. I smirked. Seemed like a lot of guys felt the same way, judging from all the stares (and glares) that followed after her. I waved to her.

"Hi, Ashleigh," I exclaimed. She looked up and smiled at me shyly. Her right cheek dimpled.

When she got close enough, I gave her a quick hug. She hugged me back. "Hey Giana," she said, somewhat absently. Her forehead creased.

"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned. She didn't look happy in the least. She bit her lip, and shrugged. I crossed my arms and looked up at her.

"Do you know why Mr. Fowlson would want to see me after school today? I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything wrong, but this school has so many meaningless rules…" she trailed off, her frown deepening.

Chris chuckled, and I jumped. He'd been being so silent before, I had forgotten he was there. "You're new, right?" Chris asked her, still laughing. "Fowlson always wants to meet the new people. Just talk with them and share the rules, he says. More like scare them to death and make sure they don't give him any problems in class, in my opinion." He offered her a gorgeous smile.

Ashleigh blinked at him slowly. It wasn't a "hello, you're hot" blink. Nor was it an "I'm not batting my eyelashes at _all_" blink. Those were the blinks he usually got. Instead, it was a "who the hell are you, and why are you talking to me" blink. I struggled to hide a smile. I didn't think Chris had ever gotten one of _those_ blinks.

Chris looked a little shell-shocked; he was probably surprised that she hadn't reacted to him in the way most girls normally did. Pointedly ignoring him, Ashleigh looked at her watch. "Shoot," she muttered. "I gotta go to English." I nodded. She turned to leave, and then she said, "Hey, do you know why Zelda was all freaked out because I'm sitting with Bunny tomorrow?" She looked puzzled, and a little scornful, like she thought we were prejudiced or something.

I shrugged, hiding my panic. "No idea," I lied. "None of us really likes Bunny. Ditto for her friends. And they don't like us either. We're kind of…archenemies."

Ashleigh didn't look quite satisfied. "I'll explain more to you later," I said hurriedly. "You should probably get to class. The warning bell is about to ring, and your English room is right in the middle of the school."

Ashleigh nodded. "Bye, Giana," she called over her shoulder. Again, she completely ignored Chris. I wondered why.

Chris apparently wanted to know the same thing. "I thought you said she was a ten on _all_ the scales," he said accusingly, his eyes narrowed. I smiled angelically.

"Well, she was perfectly nice to us," I pointed out. "You're the only one I've seen her be rude to. And she wasn't that mean. She was probably just preoccupied."

Then I realized that Chris had his arm slung across my shoulders, and his chin resting on top of my head. "Or she thought we were a couple and you were coming on to her with me right here." I had to let out a laugh at that one.

Chris looked surprised. "We don't look like a couple…do we?" he asked, looking confused. I just looked at him in disbelief. He didn't _see_ how people could misconstrue his position? Good grief. There was no friggin' way that he was related to Alana.

"Yes, Chris, we look like a couple to pretty much everyone in the school." I couldn't believe that he couldn't see. I pretended to cough so I could hide a smile. And people said that blondes were dumb.

"Crap. That kinda throws a wrench in my plans to ask her out," Chris said, smacking himself on the forehead. I snickered. He glared down at me, and I involuntarily cowered. He _was_ nearly two times my height. Not to mention lean and muscular, like a jaguar. Whereas I was slender, with no muscles to speak of. And I was clumsy to boot, so there was no chance of running away.

He smiled, and kissed my forehead. "You better get to class. And tell my sister to subtly inform Ashleigh that we are not dating. And that I have no girlfriend. And that I'm at loose ends for a date this Friday night. And that…" I ran away, laughing, crossing my arms as if to ward him off.

"Okay, okay. Tell Alana that she needs to talk you up to Ashleigh. I get it. Bye, Chris."

I giggled and stepped into the classroom on my right. Chris was head over heels for Ashleigh, and she hadn't even talked to him yet. Go figure.

Bunny

I watched with narrowed eyes as Giana and Ashleigh conversed. Chris was staring at Ashleigh, like pretty much every guy in school. Idiots all of them. They only liked her because she was new.

At least, that was what I was telling myself. I knew deep down that they weren't wrong in thinking that she was attractive. And she wasn't a hoochie mama, nor was she a hottie. She was just _pretty_. And I knew for a fact that her long lashes had not been lengthened with mascara, like mine had. It was so unfair.

Chris said something to Ashleigh, chuckling, and flashed her a breathtaking smile. He had never smiled at me like that, but he was smiling at Ashleigh like that. Then again, he did think that I was evil personified. So if we _had_ dated, that might have put a bit of a damper on the relationship.

I was standing in a doorway a few yards away from Giana and Ashleigh. Every time Giana's or Chris' eyes seemed to dart my way, I jerked back behind the wall. Everyone in the hall was too absorbed in their own lives to notice me whipping back and forth. Even so, I felt a little embarrassed. I was sure that I looked like a lunatic.

I peeked back around the doorframe. From the look on Chris' face, and the humor in Giana's black eyes, Ashleigh had not responded as was expected of females to Chris. I smiled.

I was incredibly lucky that my next class coincided with Ashleigh's. We hadn't talked since the showdown between Alana and I in History this morning. Alana had had her turn to inundate Ashleigh. Now it was my turn to tell a few tales of my own.

I watched as Ashleigh left for class, pointedly not saying good-bye to Chris. I looked around the doorframe again, and saw Giana looking at Chris in stunned disbelief. I longed to know what they were saying. Unfortunately, they had blocks around their minds that were like brick walls. Eva's work, obviously. Chris and Giana would never have managed blocks like that on their own. Even Blair couldn't get through them. I knew that for a fact because I tested her almost every day.

She would try for about ten minutes her eyes glazed and distant. Then she would sigh and admit that she couldn't do it. Although Alicia frequently insisted that Blair was untrustworthy, I knew the opposite. Blair was bizarrely moral for a vampire. I was surprised that she could even tolerate being in school with all these humans. Someone who was willing to do that couldn't be dishonest if she tried.

After Giana and Chris left for their respective classes, I sped down the hall to catch up with Ashleigh.

She had paused at the water fountain for a quick drink. I watched her hold her hair back with one hand while she drank. A single curly tendril drifted past her face and got soaked.

I crept up behind her and poked her in her side. Ashleigh shrieked and jumped, letting go of her hair. Her hair immediately landed in the water fountain and got wet on the ends.

Turning to me, her eyes were dangerously angry. Jeez. All I'd done was give her a little scare. So her hair had gotten a little wet. What was the big deal? This girl was touchy, for sure.

When she saw it was me, however, her expression immediately softened to congeniality. "Oh, hey Bunny," she smiled, all traces of her former irritation gone.

I realized that even though Ashleigh had quickly gotten angry, she had just as quickly capped her emotions. I saw no evidence on her face that she had been livid just a few seconds before. Weird.

Nevertheless, I smiled, bouncing a little on the balls of my feet. "Hiya, Ashleigh! How's it going?" I chirped. Ashleigh looked at me like I was severely disturbed, but the expression left her face almost before it was there. Again with the controlled emotions.

"Well, I'm on my way to English," she informed me, striding down the hall. I had to trot to keep up with her. If it had been anyone else, I would have made them slow down. But this was Ashleigh Brightstar, and I was pretty sure she wouldn't listen to me. And influencing her mind was a no go. She had a shield around her mind that resembled a steel trap. Nothing slipped out, and nothing in the world was going to slither its way inside. Not even anything so subtle as a suggestion that she slow down because the girl accompanying her was about half a foot shorter than she was.

As if she had read my thoughts, Ashleigh's pace slowed, and soon we were walking side by side. "So, who do you have for English?" I asked, like I didn't already know. I'd done my homework. And apparently, Alana hadn't. I wanted to smirk, but I didn't want to evoke Ashleigh's suspicion.

"Ms. Gallagher. I hear she's really sweet," Ashleigh commented. She turned to the left, and I followed suit. I was slightly confused. This was her first day of school. She should have been consulting a map. Instead, she was walking around like she'd been going to this school for years.

"Yeah, she looks like Bambi. She has pretty, fawn-colored hair, and wide, light brown eyes. She's kinda short, about my height I guess, so that would make her 5'4''. And her skin is like, translucent. She's so pretty, nobody even gives her any trouble. And also she's nice. Really nice. But not the kind of nice you want to take advantage of. Just the kind of nice you appreciate."

Of course, that hadn't kept me from influencing her to do some pretty crazy things in my first semester. But it hadn't been as satisfying as it was with most people, and I had soon dropped it. This wasn't something I was about to share with Ashleigh.

Ashleigh nodded absently.

The warning bell rang, and everyone in the hall scrambled to make last minute appointments with their friends, cram a few extra books into their backpacks, or get in a few extra seconds of kissing. Bleh. Ashleigh stared in horror at two emo kids making out furiously in a corner, before extricating themselves and going to their separate classes.

I snickered, and Ashleigh looked down at me, her face cherry red. "I can't believe that they are allowed to do that in the hallway. At my old school in Florida, we had very strict rules about PDA. No holding hands, no kissing, and definitely no…necking."

I choked out a laugh. "What did you just call that?" I gasped out. Ashleigh looked worried, and pulled a tissue from her brown and gold Dolce and Gabbana clutch. She offered it to me, but I waved her away. I was nearly under control already. I just couldn't believe that she had used that word to describe making out. It was so…weird.

The expression on her face puzzled, she inquired, "What was that all about?" I snickered again. I just couldn't help myself. I mean, honestly. _Necking_? The only people I knew who used that word were old people.

"Nothing," I lied, still sniggering.

Ashleigh just shook her head and kept walking. The hallways were almost empty now, a few stragglers still scurrying towards their classes.

Finally, we reached our English class, with seconds to spare. I slid into the seat on Ashleigh's right. Finally, I had her all to myself.

Or so I thought. Within seconds of my assumption, Shi Yun ghosted to Ashleigh's side. There was no expression on her face whatsoever when she looked at me. Not even the slightest hint of surprise. Why wasn't she freaking out right now? More importantly, how could I have forgotten that Shi Yun was in Ms. Gallagher's class for sixth period?

I wanted to slam my head into the desk over and over again, I felt so stupid. However, I remembered just in time that the students, not to mention the teacher, in my class might find that more than a little disturbing. I sighed.

Ashleigh offered Shi Yun an uncertain smile; Shi Yun grinned back widely. "Hey, Ash!" she gushed effusively, the nickname sliding easily off of her tongue. Now, why hadn't I thought to give Ashleigh a nickname? It would have made her more comfortable with me. Instead, now she was extra chummy with one of Alana's friends. Mistake after mistake.

Ashleigh looked slightly confused, and more than a little pleased. "Hey Shi Yun," she replied, her smile more sure this time. I grimaced slightly. Okay. I could deal with this. I just had to return Ashleigh's attention back to me.

Poking Ashleigh on the shoulder playfully, I asked, giggling, "So, what did you think of Christopher Winthorpe? Pretty hot, huh?"

Ashleigh turned to me briefly, a crease between her eyebrows. "Who?" she said, looking baffled. I looked at Shi Yun over her shoulder, and saw her _smirking_ at me. I scowled, too briefly for Ashleigh's eyes to see, then smiled mischievously.

"You know, that guy you and Giana were with in the hall earlier. He's Alana's brother. That's why they were so chummy in the hall," I informed her. I wasn't surprised that she hadn't realized who Chris was. There was no family resemblance whatsoever.

Ashleigh turned beet red. "Oh!" she gasped, looking horrified. "Oh, my goodness. And I was so cold to him in the hallway!" Ashleigh covered her face with her hands for a brief moment, before gaining control of her emotions almost immediately. How on earth did she do that?

"I thought he was Giana's boyfriend," Ashleigh continued, her voice now as bland as the chicken soup that had been served for lunch today. "I couldn't understand why he was being so…" Ashleigh seemed to struggle to find a word.

"Flirty?" I supplied, curious now. Was this misunderstanding something I could exploit?

"Not exactly. More like, the flirty would come later, if that was all right with me. Kind of, overly friendly. You know? So I was kind of…rude. Well, not kind of. I was extremely rude. Oh, I can't believe I did that." Ashleigh's voice had lost some of its blandness by now, I was pleased to see. Her control over her emotions was uncanny. Most mortals had emotions that were close to the surface, easy to identify. Then again, Ashleigh Brightstar wasn't most mortals.

I nudged her, and was about to repeat my question referring to Chris' gorgeousness when Ms. Gallagher swept into the room. Her wavy hair had been pulled into a messy bun, and her eyes were bright and kind. Her obvious joy made my mind itch. How could she be happy when she was just a human?

Ashleigh sat up straight, like a soldier at attention. I nudged her again. She didn't even blink. It was like I hadn't even touched her. I growled under my breath. Shi Yun looked at me, and her eyes were amused, although the rest of her face was as blank as a piece of paper.

Shi Yun had a special reason to hate me. I'd stolen away her best friend. Turned her over to the dark side. Yada, yada, yada. Whatever. Shi Yun had five other best friends. But, apparently, it wasn't a _whatever_ to Shi Yun. So she and Kira had been like sisters until I interfered. I had lost several sisters in this game that Alana and I played, and while that definitely made me mad and more determined than ever to destroy Alana, I wasn't like, crying over it. Weakling.

Shi Yun turned away from me, shifting her focus to Ms. Gallagher. Ms. Gallagher was taking attendance. "Brightstar?" she called out. Ashleigh smiled sweetly at our teacher. Jeez. Now wasn't this just a match made in Heaven?

_Heaven,_ I thought to myself. _A place that you will never reach because of your reprehensible actions._ I cringed away from the prospect and told the tiny, if insistent, good part of my mind to shut the heck up.

I had been so intent on controlling my thoughts that I hadn't heard Ms. Gallagher call my last name. "Canslay?" Ms. Gallagher called again. I jumped, and the rest of the class laughed.

"Here," I said, blushing furiously.

Ashleigh was the only one in class not laughing. She wasn't even smiling. She just sat there like a stone, her mind in a faraway place. Before I could pinch her, or otherwise bring her back to earth, Shi Yun did it for me. She waved her hand quickly in front of Ashleigh's face. Ashleigh didn't even blink.

Shi Yun shook Ashleigh violently. Ashleigh started. "What?" she gasped, her reverie broken. She looked slightly dazed, as if someone had punched her in the back of her head. Lovely. We had a daydreamer on our hands.

Before Shi Yun could steal my thunder again, I replied quickly. "You kind of zoned out there for a while, Ashleigh. We were getting a bit worried." Shi Yun cut her eyes at me. I gave her a sugary sweet smile in return.

If I hadn't been trying so hard to irk Shi Yun, I might have been able to say what she said next. "So, Ash, do you want to be partners with me?"

Ashleigh's face lit up. "Sure!" she agreed enthusiastically. "I'd love to be your partner." Then she looked at me with a guilty look on her face. "But what about…?" She trailed off, looking uncertain.

I plastered a smile on my face, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. "Don't worry about me," I said, my voice tight. "I'll get one of the guys to be my partner. Since they can't have you or Shi Yun, they'll be ecstatic to have me instead."

Ashleigh bit her lip, still looking unsure. I shoved her lightly on the shoulder. Strangely, the contact burned my skin. Disregarding this as my imagination, I said, more lightly than before, "Really, don't worry about me. You two have fun now, you hear?" I adopted an exaggerated Southern accent for the last part of my sentence, making Ashleigh smile.

This day was definitely not going my way. And I had even splurged on Burger King for breakfast this morning. What a gyp.

Ashleigh

I was horrified at my behavior towards Chris in the hallway. When I thought about it, his stance did seem kind of brotherly. But honestly, what was I supposed to think? He had his chin on top of her head and his arm around her!

Admittedly, Alana or either of the other girls could do the same thing; Giana was extremely short. That didn't necessarily mean that they were dating her.

I paused and pondered my previous thought. Why was it that it was always _Alana_ and her friends? Why didn't I ever think Zelda and her friends? Or Helen and her friends? Was it because Alana had introduced herself to me first, thus making a bigger impression? No, I didn't think so. Zelda and Helen made pretty big impressions.

I guessed that it was because they seemed like Alana's girls. They were terrific on their own, but they were still Alana's. She owned them, wholly and completely. I shuddered. Did I really want to be know as another one of Alana's girls? Was that really what I wanted my identity to be?

Shi Yun scared the living daylights out of me again by shaking me vigorously. "What?" I said, putting my hand over my heart, feeling it pound frantically.

Looking at me pensively, she replied, "You zoned out again. It was kind of creepy. You just kept staring at nothing."

I frowned. Zoning out was not normal for me. Especially not during class. I always paid strict attention to the lesson. I realized with shock, and chagrin, that I couldn't remember a word of what Ms. Gallagher had said just a few moments before. Wow. I really had spaced, hadn't I?

I sat up even straighter than before, and listened carefully to every word that Ms. Gallagher uttered in her soft voice. I took meticulous notes, not leaving anything out.

Bunny didn't seem interested in class. She slouched in her seat, glowering at the clock on the wall opposite us. Her hand lazily guided a dark red pen around in squiggly circles in her notebook. I noticed with distaste that the ink strongly resembled blood. What a strange pen. Why on earth would you want to use something like that?

Shi Yun's emerald green pen suited me much better. The ink was very pretty, glittering like a liquid jewel, even after it dried. The color reminded me of a trip to the Pacific Northwest that my family had taken a few years before. I had loved all the trees around. But what I had loved most of all was the sweet scent of rain and moist earth.

However, my own pen suited me the best. Now that I thought about it, the color of the ink exactly matched the color of Eva's pupils. How weird was that? The thought made me slightly uncomfortable, but I wasn't quite sure why. Was it because a normal person's eyes didn't have gold pupils? And a normal person's eyes didn't flash like a lantern every three seconds or so.

I pushed aside my discomfort. It was inexplicable, as well as irrational, and therefore, it would be crippling to allow myself to be bothered by it.

I had been taught by my grandmother to always keep a firm hold on my emotions. "An explosive temper is never becoming in a woman," she had admonished me once, after I kicked at my nanny. I forgot what it was I had been angry about.

Ironically, this came from the woman who shot her husband in the butt with a BB-gun after he was ten minutes late for dinner. Of course, she never lost her temper again, and, as she explained it, "It was our anniversary dinner! How can you be late for your anniversary dinner?"

I kept my emotions under a tight lid. My mother said it was unnatural, how rarely I simply let an emotion just take control of me, and overwhelm me. I couldn't understand why she didn't see that showing your emotions made you vulnerable.

My ex-boyfriend back in Florida had said I was a coldhearted, calculating you-know-what, after I dumped him. That had bothered me for a long time. I wasn't coldhearted…was I? And what exactly was wrong with being calculating? Calculating minimized risk.

Shi Yun shook me again. "You're zoning out again," she informed me, her eyebrows furrowed. I smiled apologetically and focused on our project. What were we doing again? I looked at Shi Yun questioningly. "Write a conversation between remote and a television," she supplied.

I smiled. "Can I be the television?" I pleaded. Shi Yun smiled like a parent indulging a little kid.

"Sure," she replied. She wrote something on the notebook in front of her. I stared in fascination at her elegant script. My own writing was nearly as pretty, but not quite.

Turn to channel 30.

I smiled. This was going to be so cool! Why hadn't my school in Florida ever had assignments like this?

_No. I'm sick of you telling me what to do! Turn to this channel, turn to that channel. You want channel 30 so bad, YOU turn to it._

Shi Yun looked at what I had written and laughed out loud. "A sensitive television? A television with a will of its own? What going to happen next, it won't turn on until it wants to?"

I smiled back.

We continued writing our dialogue back and forth. We finished fifteen minutes before everyone else. I walked up to the desk and presented the sheet of paper to Ms. Gallagher, who smiled at me. "I'm sure that I will have a great time in your class and learn a great deal," I said sincerely. If she kept assigning us stuff like this, she might even beat out y favorite elementary school teacher back in Florida.

Class ended, and with it, school. Kids poured into the hallways, laughing and yelling and screaming. I struggled to make my way to my locker. Finally, I made it. I shoved a few books into my locker, slammed the door shut, whirled around, and barged directly into Christopher Winthorpe.

He caught me before I fell over and set me firmly on my feet. "Careful there," he said, his voice amused. I flushed and looked away.

"Thanks," I muttered. I swiftly slid out of his grip. I had never been very comfortable with people touching me. Apparently, this was something that I was going to have to get used to if I was going to hang out with Alana and her buddies.

Christopher smiled at me, and I was distracted enough to almost walk directly into the wall. Who knew a smile could be so…well…_gorgeous_?

I took a deep breath and told myself to focus. School was not about boys. It was about education. No stupid crushes. No boy ogling. Just schoolwork.

"I didn't get a chance to properly introduce myself," he said to me, frowning slightly. I cringed at the memory of my impolite behavior.

"Sorry about earlier," I said contritely. "I was stressed out." That wasn't a lie. There was no lie in those words. At least that's what I told myself. I knew that it wasn't true. I knew that Christopher would think that I had been rude to him because I was stressed, and not for a completely different…

"Really? Because Giana said that it was maybe because she and I looked like a couple. Which is a really odd thing to think about. I mean, we're like siblings."

I felt my cheeks warm. So he knew that I hadn't just been preoccupied. He knew that I had been offended, and that I had jumped to conclusions.

I shrugged lightly. "Yeah, you did look kind of couple-y. But, anyway, I'm really sorry." I stopped speaking. Would he pick up the dismissal? I was dying of mortification right now, and I would hate to traumatize him by letting him see me drop dead onto the floor.

Christopher nodded absently. We stood in awkward silence for a moment before I remembered that I had to go. "Crap!" I moaned. He looked at me curiously as I smacked myself on the forehead. "I have to go meet Mr. Fowlson. Thanks for that tip about him, by the way. I was practically shaking in my boots."

Christopher smiled at me again, and I felt my knees go all wobbly. No. I could not let this happen. Control. I needed control.

After two milliseconds, I found the control I was looking for. Wiping my face clean of any emotion besides polite interest, I offered Christopher a small, meaningless smiled and held out my hand. "It was very nice to meet you, Christopher," I said blandly.

He looked slightly confused. Apparently, my mood swing had not been as unobtrusive as I had hoped. I made my smile wider, trying to compensate.

Christopher sighed, a small exhalation of air, and then said, in his absolutely wonderful British accent, "Won't you please call me Chris, Miss Brightstar?"

I gave a startled laugh. I had never been called Miss Brightstar before. It was kind of cool. "Only if you promise to call me Ashleigh," I bargained, my smile more genuine this time.

"I can do that for you," he said, his eyes laughing.

"I'd better run along," I said, slightly breathlessly. I felt a little dizzy.

I walked away from Chris quickly. What was wrong with me? I always kept my emotions tightly reined in. But now this boy I barely even knew was turning me upside down and inside out.

I had a sinking feeling in my heart that this was not good. Not good at all.

Shi Yun

As I walked towards Alana's red Crossfire, I absently hummed the Darth Vader theme song in my head. There were gorgeous gray clouds masking the sky overhead, and an insistent wind blew my hair in black strands across my face. The smell of the ocean flooded my nostrils, and a seagull screamed overhead.

I saw Alana's golden head bobbing up and down to an invisible beat as she listened to some song on her MP3-player. I quickly crossed the parking lot, still humming that stupid Darth Vader song.

Alana beamed at me in her rearview mirror as I slid into the backseat of her car. I caressed the suede seats, like I always did when I sat in her car. They were so _soft_.

"So, how was your day?" Alana said, her voice loud. I winced slightly. Seeing my grimace, she gave me an apologetic smile and took her earbuds out.

"Sorry," she said, still smiling. I felt vaguely uneasy about her mischievous grin. It looked like she knew something. I wasn't sure _what_ she knew, but from the look she was giving me, I had an idea. Alana always knew about that kind of stuff.

"I'm assuming you heard about Mr. Daly assigning Connor O'Henry to be my lab partner," I said nonchalantly, pulling a notebook out of my shoulder bag. I began sketching a portrait of Alana's face as I anxiously waited for her reply.

"Are you kidding?" she answered, barely moving her lips. She knew I would get pissed if she made me mess up my drawing. "Like Melissa Lykner was going to keep that to herself. Especially since you _blushed_ when he walked over to you."

Of course. I had forgotten that Melissa Lykner had a bigger mouth than a humpback whale.

Alana looked at me sympathetically. "Sweetie, why didn't you tell me you had a crush on the guy? I mean, he's beyond gorgeous, and he's very sweet."

I concentrated on my portrait and I didn't answer for a long time. Finally, keeping my voice low, I replied, "Because Eva didn't want me to."

Alana didn't look surprised. "Well, I'm working on that right now. For goodness' sake, I've been working on it for weeks! But this isn't about Eva; this is about you. How much do you like Connor?"

Keeping my eyes down, I whispered, "A lot." I wouldn't say anymore. What else could I say? That every time I saw him, I felt so joyous it seemed like birds should be singing madly? That his smile made me melt? That when his eyes shifter from amber to hazel to green, I was mesmerized?

I couldn't say all that. I had never been one to express my feelings in words. Of course I did have a countless number of drawings of him in my notebook…

Alana looked exasperated. "How much is a lot?" she pressed, her voice impatient, and slightly frantic. Silently, I flipped to the first picture I had drawn of Connor. It was a simple side profile, but it was on of my favorites.

I handed it to Alana, and then stuck my head out the window to gaze at the ocean. Waves pounded angrily against the salt-crusted gray rocks. The cool wind still blew strongly against my face, making me screw up my eyes against the cold. I saw, in the distance, a geyser of water shoot up in the ocean, and knew that a whale was passing through the bay.

I felt Alana's eyes on me, but I ignored her, and kept my face in the wind, eyes closed.

After about two minutes, I withdrew my head and closed the window. I saw Giana walking towards the car, her tiny form struggling to pull on her heavy backpack and fight against the fierce wind at the same time. I felt a grin spread across my face at the sight of her irritated expression.

Giana finally reached the car, and dropped into the seat next to me, breathing heavily. She glared at me ferociously until the smile faded from my face. What was _her_ problem?

She turned her angry eyes to Alana, who raised an eyebrow curiously. "Is there something you want to share with us?" Giana said, her voice tight with controlled anger.

It was kind of funny to see Giana angry. Like watching a kitten trying to be a tiger. She crossed her arms and glared at Alana.

Alana simply raised her eyebrow even higher, her expression calm.

Giana blew out a sigh, ruffling her bangs. I noticed that her golden circlet was slightly askew, and fought to keep the giggles from escaping.

"Why didn't you let us know that Ashleigh was sitting with Bunny at lunch tomorrow?" Giana demanded, her teeth bared. I saw that her canines had elongated slightly, but it only registered slightly. The rest of my attention was on what she had said.

I turned my wide eyes to Alana, disbelieving. "_What_?!" I exploded, shocked.

Alana didn't look so calm anymore. Her eyes had narrowed slightly, and she glared out the window. "I forgot," she muttered.

Giana threw her hands into the air. "Oh, _that_ explains everything! Since when do you forget things? And how could you forget something important like _that_?"

Alana whirled around, and put her face so close to Giana's, it looked like she was about to kiss her. "Don't you judge me!" she snarled, her eyes almost slits. "You have _no idea_ what I've done to keep you, and the rest of us safe."

I flinched back from the pure anger in Alana's voice.

Giana stayed where she was, her eyes wide with fright. After a moment however, her anger returned. "Well then, why don't you tell us?" Giana yelled. Her canines had grown even longer, and now they jutted past her bottom lip. "You're always keeping secrets, and you find out things you were never meant to know! I wanna know how you learn everything! So instead of trying to make me feel guilty about everything you do, why don't you _tell_ us? Because if you don't, I swear on my life, I'll find out for myself. You know how good I am at slithering around."

Giana paused for breath, and suddenly all the anger rained from her body. "I just don't want us to lose," she said, her voice filled with tears. I rubbed her back comfortingly.

Alana had frozen in place after Giana made her threat; even her breathing had stopped. She sighed. "I'll tell you when we have tea at my house this afternoon, okay? When everyone else is with us."

Her voice sounded strange. It had lost its normal confident ring, and sounded almost…resigned.

What was she talking about?


End file.
